Zodiac Viruses
by BasicallyAnIdiot
Summary: Sasuke is called in to expose a deadly group of hackers known as The Zodiac Viruses. He knows 3 things. 1 the hackers are in high school, 2 there's thirteen viruses, 3 the animals are just annoying. Chapter 2 rewritten
1. I Hate Hackers

Summary: "Sasuke is called in to expose a deadly group of hackers know as The Zodiac Viruses. He knows 3 things. 1) The hackers are in high school, 2) There's thirteen viruses, 3) The animals are just annoying."

Warnings: AU, OOC, Twists, and chaos. (Editor's Note: Bear in mind that we know nothing of the inner workings of either hackers or police. Glaring mistakes and inaccuracies will abound. Don't say we didn't warn you. In retrospect, the fact that these characters are all in high school is just ridiculous. BAI: … Lets just not go there.)

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 1- I Hate Hackers- launching program...

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples as a black and red horse pranced smugly across the now-blank screen, occasionally pausing to stick its tongue out. Whatever files, or data, that had been taken was long gone, with the original set also destroyed in the aftermath. That was just the way these hackers worked. Clean. Effortless. Subtle. Untraceable. And other related adjectives.

In other words: a pile of paperwork for new head of the cyber division of the Police. Because, like the previous time and the time before that, they had gotten there too late. It was always like this. They'd get a call and by the time the squad made it there the hacker was long gone. They had tried on numerous occasions to trace from their computers back at base, yet kept being diverted to various (illegal) websites. An annoying signature left on the screen was the only sign of their presence and crimes.

"I hate hackers." He muttered darkly, checking to see if there was anything left on the computer. A useless act, as he already knew there wouldn't be. The screen flickered occasionally, and the pixel sprite started across the screen again. It would do that forever, as far as he knew. Even after they turned off the computer, which baffled the engineers back at the station.

"Sasuke, lets get going. There's nothing we can do here and we have school tomorrow." Sakura, his partner since this whole mess began, said sympathetically from the doorway. Sasuke sighed again and stood up to follow her. She was right. She was right every time they arrived too late: there was never anything they could do.

He hated it.

* * *

The figure sat alone, the darkness of the room hiding his features. The others had long since gone disappeared, leaving him to finish their delicate work for the day. In front of him, a computer screen flickered softly as the files were stored safely away in the many other computers in the room. The hardware hummed with contentment, oblivious to the sigh of relief that came out a little too loud from the figure.

"That was too close."

* * *

"Another dead-end?" His brother asked quietly at breakfast the next morning. The early morning sun was barely rising over the houses surrounding their home, yet it was bright enough that they didn't need to turn on any lights. From his position at the bar, Sasuke looked up from his cereal to meet Itachi's penetrating gaze. That gaze made most people uneasy, but after fourteen years Sasuke was immune. That, and he knew where he could find the family albums and pull enough blackmail on his brother to never be truly afraid of him.

"Yes, big surprise there. Why do they have to be so _organized_?" He complained, frustration returning full force, throwing his hands up in the air. This succeeded in splashing both of the Uchiha with milk and cereal from the spoon still in the younger brother's hand. Itachi raised an eyebrow as he elegantly, as only Itachi could, plucked a cheerio from his brow. Sasuke smiled apologetically. "Seriously, what happened to the criminal organizations that didn't know how to cover their own tracks?"

"They all got arrested." Itachi answered dryly, washing his face with a damp towel, afterwards throwing it at his younger brother with a raised brow. Sasuke glared at him, catching the cloth with one hand.

"It was a rhetorical question." The younger brother quietly cleaned up the spill with a scowl. The elder Uchiha smirked mockingly at Sasuke, pouring a cup of coffee for himself.

"I know."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his brother's irritating sense of humor. "And the animals are just annoying. I mean one of the viruses actually melted the inside of the computer and still managed to make a rabbit hop across the screen!"

Itachi leaned against the counter across from his brother, cup of coffee now in hand. His gaze was thoughtful, "Are there really thirteen hackers? Seem like an ominous number to me." It had been during one of Sasuke's previous rants that the Itachi learned of what the top theories were and how Sasuke thought they didn't factor in various facts, like the images of animals despite the screens being turned off.

Sasuke shook his head. "There are thirteen viruses, one for each zodiac animal including the cat, but that doesn't mean there are thirteen people. There could be one or one hundred for all we know." Which was another problem. Was each program specific to one person or could anyone with computer skills use it? Did that mean only one person was performing these felonies, or were multiple people behind it? That opened up the fact that hackers of this level had never teamed up before; it already took an entire team to bring down a single hacker of that caliber, let alone a group of them.

Sasuke shoved his cereal into his mouth with more force than necessary, rubbing his temples after he swallowed. Itachi smirked, and Sasuke halted in his shoving to cast a curious glance at his brother. With a lazy gaze and irritating smile, Itachi answered the unasked question, "This is why I don't do police work, little brother."

"Che, if you were on the case we'd probably have the whole thing wrapped up by now." With a sigh Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it thoroughly. His brother closed his eyes and spoke in a quiet, absent manner.

"I'm a genius, not a miracle worker."

The younger Uchiha snorted softly, a dull expression crossing his face. "I know." He stood up, empty dishes in hand, and made his way to the sink. "At least we know one thing." Sasuke commented idly as he placed the bowl in the sink.

Itachi glanced up, "And what's that?" He took a sip of coffee and watched as Sasuke carefully started cleaning the dishware. If only the fangirls knew. The elder brother could probably finance his tuition if he managed to take a picture of Sasuke doing something so domestic and made copies to sell. Yes, then he could charge even more if he got pictures of Sasuke sleeping, maybe even make a combo of pictures. He'd be a millionaire. Sasuke was oblivious to his brother's plotting.

"The most likely theory we have right now, all variables included, is that the hackers are young. Probably in high school, if the hours they attack at are any indications. We've already tracked down everyone with the background needed over the age of 20, and none of them fit." Wiping his hands on a towel, Sasuke leaned against the edge of the sink.

"Interesting." Itachi's tone got serious then, enough to have Sasuke's full attention, "Be careful out there, Sasuke. If you're not, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble. Hackers can be dangerous."

"I know. I'll be careful." Sasuke appreciated his brother's concern. This was the seventh time it had been voiced, if not as subtly as the times previous to it. Itachi had made it clear he'd rather his brother not be on a case like this, but a job was a job and Sasuke wasn't a kid anymore. No matter how much Itachi treated him like one.

Itachi smiled then, and poked Sasuke on the forehead as he placed his mug beside the sink. "Good. Now get ready for school or you'll be late." He moved away towards the entranceway of the house, a mere hallway leading towards the kitchen with the living room branching off from it.

Sasuke scowled and rubbed his head. "Stop doing that!" He protested childishly, eyes narrowed in annoyance. Itachi smirked.

"You never minded when you were little." The elder Uchiha's tone was mock serious, coal eyes laughing at Sasuke.

"That was a long time ago. I'm grown up now." Despite his protests, Sasuke was laughing lightly. With a smirk to his brother, that was returned, Sasuke made his way up the stairs, heading for the bathroom and his toothbrush.

Making sure his brother was otherwise occupied; Itachi silently ascended the stairs and walked down the hallway to his room. Closing his door softly, he pulled out his phone and dialed a memorized number. After a several moments of ringing he was almost concerned that he had missed the other boy, only to have his worries dismissed as the phone was finally picked up.

"Hello, un." The voice on the other line answered tiredly, a testimony to that fact he had probably spent the entire night trying to finish some long forgotten paper. The birdbrain.

"... You aren't even out of bed yet, are you?" Itachi stated resignedly. He, of course, had finished the paper within a week of its assignment and had enjoyed a full night's sleep for the two weeks following it. "School starts in fifteen minutes."

The voice was irritated now, and slightly more awake than beforehand. "I know. I'll get there, un." There was some shuffling and distant shouting on the other end, followed by the thunk of something heavy hitting a wall or door. It would seem Itachi wasn't the only one who'd noticed how late the blond was running. The voice faded back into range, "What do you want?"

"I'm running out of supplies, what do you think of an outing to get more? We could all go." It was a fairly usual request. Itachi glanced at his watch. He'd have to cut this conversation short or Sasuke would be wondering where his ride was.

"Sounds good, un. I'll tell the others." There was a yawn. "But couldn't this wait 'till later? I was sleeping." Itachi smiled; a rare sight.

"It wouldn't be nearly as fun if I did that. We'll go to the usual place." He hung up without waiting for a reply. On his way down, he grabbed the keys from the kitchen counter and headed for the front door where Sasuke was waiting.

* * *

Sasuke sat in the back of the class, early as usual, and looked over the students in the classroom. None of the teachers had arrived yet, leaving the students free to their own devices. Off to the corner, Ino and Sakura were giggling with a large group of girls, the stereotypical popular group. The giggles halted for another girl to speak and more laughter was heard. They were the loudest of all the students and relatively annoying in that regard.

Up at the front, where most of the students avoided being seen, Shikamaru was explaining something to Chouji, who was munching on his ever-present bag of chips. Judging from what Sasuke saw it was on material they wouldn't even be covering until final year. Sometimes he wondered why Shikamaru didn't just skip a few grades.

Near the middle of the rows Naruto was copying Hinata's homework while the Hyuuga heir just sighed. Both were completely oblivious to Kiba and Shino plotting in a corner, far away from the girls, for revenge on Naruto's 'dying Akamaru pink' prank. Or rather, Kiba was plotting while Shino nodded on occasion. Maybe the Aburame was asleep; it was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

All was normal.

Sasuke caught Sakura's eye as she chatted with her friends with her friends. She nodded that all was well before returning to her conversation before anyone realized she was making eye contact with the girls' equivalent of a heartthrob. His partner may, in the most respects, be an ordinary girl, but she was very good at her job. No one would suspect that she was a member of a specialized team.

Said team had only been assembled a few months prior, when the police had begun to suspect that the hackers were still in school. If they couldn't beat the hackers online, they would just have to flush them out where their computers wouldn't be able to protect them. And that meant taking them by surprise. To that end, they had looked to the children of well-regarded police officers and adults already involved in local high school affairs, making them honourary police officers for the purposes of the investigation. Their goals were to scout the most likely of suspects without drawing attention to themselves; not an easy task with the various social groupings of each school.

They were targeting the most likely suspects first. That amounted to picking out the top students in the school, especially in computer-related classes. Shikamaru and Neji were high on the list- though Shikamaru got barely-passing marks most people knew he was a genius. Neji was a grade higher than Sasuke and currently under the observation of two other new officers. Sakura had suggested that the dog sign would suit Kiba well, and so with nothing else to go on Sasuke put him on the maybe list. That list was way too long, with the likely suspects' list far too short.

All talking stopped as Iruka, their math teacher, walked into the room. He surveyed the room critically, smiling pleasantly. "Alright. Classes are now starting." A gleam entered the teacher's eye, "Everyone who's supposed to be somewhere else leave. NOW!"

With the shout behind them Ino, Chouji, Naruto and Kiba bolted from the room. Iruka was very scary when he was angry, rare as those times were. Sasuke sighed inwardly and settled down for another uneventful class.

* * *

That night, Itachi made sure Sasuke and their parents were fast asleep before grabbing a coat to protect against the night chill and slipping quietly out the door. He went straight for his car, waited impatiently for it to purr to life, and began the twenty-minute drive to where the meeting was taking place.

The restaurant was quiet. The dim lights from inside suggested the place was nearing closing time. It was a tidy place despite its obvious age (the window stills, once a bright red, were now almost brown. The paint on the signs was chipping, revealing the wood underneath.) Parking his car and heading up the steps, Itachi wondered, not for the first time, if anyone actually ate here.

Knocking sharply on the door the Uchiha waited silently outside, the crisp bitter wind hardly affecting him through his thin coat. The seconds dragged on, before the sound of something unlocking was heard. Within a few seconds the door had cracked open and a thin redhead appeared in the doorway. Hazel eyes stared at him irritably from under a mop of bed hair, a slight scowl adorning the other teen's face. The waiter finished wiping his hand on his half apron, leaning against the doorframe. Sasori was never one to greet late customers, "We're closed. Come back tomorrow."

"But I heard you have some of the best tempura in the city." Itachi gave him a sharp look, his tone one of superiority. "And you closed just a few minutes ago. Surely you wouldn't turn away a paying customer." There was no room for arguing with that tone, though the redhead seemed to briefly entertain the thought. After a moment, he rolled his eyes and stepped aside.

There was an air as if this had been done many times before as Sasori pushed away from the doorframe, turning to head inside. "There's some in the back. Come on." The redhead then led the way through the maze of tables, Itachi dodging the various chair legs up in the air, and past the bar counter into the storeroom. The cool air of the room nipped at the both of them; the black turtleneck sweater of Sasori's wasn't warm enough to block it completely if the goose bumps on the teen's hand were any indication. That didn't stop him from removing one of the wall tiles from beside the shelves and typing in a code to the button pad behind it. A door slid back from where it had been camouflaged like the button pad.

As soon as the door closed Itachi nimbly dodged to the side as another teen came racing up the stairs a few feet away. Sasori was not quick enough to escape the flying body as she tackled him with enough force to bowl him over. An impromptu wrestling match ensued, ending with the girl who had tackled him sitting on his back. Her purple eyes were alight with laughter, hair of the same hue ruffled from the fight, though she was scowling.

Lifting his face from the floor, Sasori attempted to look up at his girlfriend only to be halted by impossible angle it would have required. "Anko, would you get off me?" She adjusted herself to sit on the small of his back, her one hand gripping both of his arms in front of her.

Anko leaned closer to Sasori's ear, whispering with a dark smile, "Not until you give me the dango you hid." Itachi mentally sighed from his temporary hiding spot. Any attempts to move pass the girl would end with a sharp whamp to the back of the head. The duo currently arguing were probably the prime example of opposites attract, with Anko's hotheadedness and Sasori's equally cool headedness often clashing in the most spectacular of verbal fighting.

"What dango?" Sasori's head met the floor with the hit Anko made to the back of his head. Her eyes were twitching, though the redhead couldn't see it. She was no longer amused. The redhead made a groan- or potentially a sigh, it was hard to tell with the stone floor muffling it.

"The dango in your hair." Her tone was sarcastic, mocking him, "I'm talking about the dango in your pockets, idiot. You should know better than to try and sneak some past me." Sasori made another groan, lifting his head to speak properly.

"If I give it to you would you get off of me?" Anko was mulling it over, her hand releasing her boyfriend's arms, to support her other arm as she mulled the concept over. After a moment she spoke again.

"Sure. Now give me the dango." The redhead propped his head with one of his freed arms while the other dug out the treat Anko was after. He handed it to her idly, waiting patiently for her to move. She didn't, instead she was far too occupied with being united with her 'baby.' Itachi smirked at Sasori's predicament before moving past the now-distracted "beast" and down the steep stairwell from whence Anko had come. The bright lights overhead showed the great metal doors at the end of the stairs.

As he drew near to the doors they slid open, welcoming him into the dimly lit room. Itachi's eyes adjusted quicker than most to the change in lighting, revealing three balconies connected by another set of stairs. At the bottom of the room was a rarely-used table with fourteen seats. Television screens covered the walls where the highest balcony was located, showing a variety of security videos from all over the city. One of the screens, he had been told, was now hooked up to cable. The balcony below that was covered in cluttered desks of computer monitors and towers. With chairs scattered in front of each other the desks, various personal affects claimed a desk apiece, and bulletin board covered in the important notices of who was to do what that day. The lowest balcony acted as their storage or living place, with cots for long nights and a miniature kitchen for the following breakfast in there. A couple of couches and more comfortable chairs were arranged in a semi-stylish manner.

Itachi had barely managed to place his coat on the back of his chair when Kisame's head popped out of their equivalent of a cubical, water bottle in hand, a few desks down from the Uchiha. "Oi, Itachi."

"What?" Itachi didn't bother to glance in the taller boy's direction. Most would have been offended at the lack of attention. Kisame wasn't most people. Quietly turning on his computers and pulling his chair forward, Itachi waited for the other teen to begin.

"The brats are going to be here any minute. We should get down to business." Kisame disappeared temporarily to retrieve their orders. He returned to popping his head out in under a minute, a sharky grin on his face that matched his blue skin quite well. It was a singularly odd sight, and Kisame often found himself explaining to disturbed passerby's that the gills and pointed teeth were merely plastic surgery, as part of an 'artistic expression'. Itachi wasn't sure if that was Deidara's influence or not. "Moor Inc. has a new security system that could be trouble. Itachi, you need to copy the program. Anko will cover your tracks while I get to destroy the original."

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement. He typed his password in and waited for the computer to finish loading his files. "So we need Anko." He murmured almost absently. "Deidara!" The shout carried over to another cubical where a blond pulled himself out from under the desk, numerous wires in hand.

Deidara frowned at the Uchiha, obviously not in the mood for dealing with him. He had been trying to fix a fray in one of his computers' wires for the past week. A very annoying fray- electrical tape didn't seem to do anything. "What, un?" He didn't wait for the reply before ducking back under the desk, but Itachi knew he could hear him well enough.

"Go get Anko." Itachi began opening the programs he would need. In a matter of seconds the desktop was covered in screens. A quick calculation had accounted for possible changes this hack could cause and whatever this new security system would bring.

"Why me, un?" The question echoed from under desk. A hand appeared and snatched a fresh roll of tape from the top of the desk before disappearing again.

"She likes you." Which was true, and it meant Anko would be less inclined to hurt him when he disturbed her from her favorite pastime: eating dango. Although Itachi still wouldn't want to be the one to convince her. With a grunt Deidara tossed the offending wires back under the table and headed up the stairs to where Anko was last seen.

After a few moments there was a shout, dulled by the doors, and Deidara came racing back, rubbing his head with slight tears in his eyes. He passed close by Itachi's desk and hissed "You owe me for this, Uchiha." Anko entered next, with Sasori right beside her.

"I need to copy some security program, cover me." Dedicating a moment to allowing his current partners to boot up their computers, Itachi prepared to launch his own, unique program. Created for the sole purpose of copying huge amounts of data in a matter of seconds, there was, understandably, a great deal of power needed just to start it. That was, in Itachi's opinion, a small price to pay when it was capable of copying entire mother computers perfectly.

Anko sat down at her spot, the computers loading her program quickly, hands dancing across the keyboard. Behind her Sasori was leaning on her chair, his hazel eyes solemn as he watched her work. Kisame cracked his finger joints loudly, before joining the other two in booting up and adjusting their programs. The three hackers worked at lightning speeds, typing almost inhumanly fast.

"Are we ready?" The other two hackers nodded silently, absorbed in their own work. "Beginning operation 'Sharingan'." Itachi's voice took on a professional tone, echoed with soft clicking of keys.

Anko called out a moment later. "'Snakes + Ladders' ready to go. On your mark Itachi."

No less than a few seconds after that Kisame's voice rang out. " 'Shredder' on stand by. On your mark. Get set-."

"Go." Itachi said blandly, activating his virus- nicknamed 'Sharingan' for no particular reason, other than he thought it sounded cool- with a push of a button. Within a matter of minutes the plan was in motion, and the damage being performed was beyond what the police could hope to protect against. This only made them a little bit smug.

* * *

"Great. Just great." Tenten remarked as she saw the security program they had worked so hard to design disintegrate before her eyes. A good month had gone into that system, only for it to be destroyed less than a day after they activated it. For no reason she could think of, either. Perhaps it was enough to assume the hackers just didn't like someone challenging their skills. That would have to be added to the report.

"No, really?" Asuma replied sarcastically, his cigarette poofing out smoke with each breath. "For a bunch of criminals they have exceptional teamwork. The rat, snake and ox worked in perfect unison." He shook his head disbelievingly staring at the screen.

On the monitor, with a blue background that normally came with a crash, the rat smirked at them, the ox seemingly laughing with the snake coiled around the cat. At this point in time they were able to confirm at least two programs that were active during this procedure, although the animals' presence implied there had been four. When they tried to follow the hackers via the internet they found themselves redirected to various porn sites and other sites that no respectable person would want to be caught with in their computer history. Just like the last time they tried to follow the cyber-trail.

"So..." Tenten began, rubbing her temples, "who tells Sasuke?" They both glanced at each other, then backed away from the monitor, leaving the scene for the others to process. Making their way to the door, they showed their badges to the secretary on the way out, and Asuma answered.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" He lit up another of his cigarettes, the last one having been finished a few minutes beforehand. He opened the first of the two doorways for his younger partner.

"Are you kidding?" Tenten stared long and hard at Asuma, disbelief clear in her chocolate eyes. "You have better life insurance between the two of us. You get to tell him." With that she was out the door heading towards Asuma's car.

* * *

The copied information disappeared into one of their mother computers to be sorted later, and Sasori was staring at Anko, who was grinning slightly. The redhead sighed at the needless use of his avatar and quickly removed it from the images of Anko's snake. His hands avoided hers as he made the appropriate changes, a fact that made Anko smirk.

The doors opened for the rest of the team as they showed up. Itachi wasted no time turning his formidable glare onto the newcomers. His eyes were sharp as he glanced at his watch, noting the five minutes separating the minute hand from the hour. "You're all late." His eyes narrowed further and, without waiting for excuses, he immediately launched into a full-blown speech about the importance of being on time. Especially when there was work to do.

The hapless audience turned desperately to the older members for help, all of whom were smirking. Proving the sheer fruitlessness of that act.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, when Itachi had finished his scolding of the latecomers and everyone had settled down on the bottom floor, the meeting could finally begin. There were twelve of them today- one member had a legitimate excuse for not being there and the Leader would not show up for something of so little of importance, hackers sat around a large table. The dim light of only one light bulb overhead darkened the room significantly, a perfect setting for them as far as they were concerned. At the head of the table stood Itachi, face impassive as he began the meeting.

"I have called you all here to discuss a very important matter. It has come to my attention that the police are cracking down on us. They know we're still in school and they've recruited many undercover agents to flush us out. I do not have to inform you of the importance of remaining inconspicuous." He paused, eyeing each member for a moment, "Keep to your covers, and don't associate with anyone from the group other than your partners. Sasuke's in charge of this investigation, and he's not an idiot. One slip up and he'll be on us. I'll try to find out who are the undercover agents. A report has been sent off to-"

Itachi was cut off by a coughing fit of Sasori's, only continuing when the redhead had finished "- telling him about it. We'll have an escape route prepared in case we're found out." Itachi's disposition changed, his face somehow more threatening though nothing had changed his expression. "On a more important note, who ate the last of the pocky?"

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 1- I Hate Hackers- ending program...

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-? Age-? Program-?

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-? Age-? Program-?

Monkey-? Age-? Program-?

Rooster-? Age-? Program-?

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-? Age-? Program-?

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- ?

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten


	2. Stupid Genius Hackers

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 2- Stupid Genius Hackers- launching program...

"...So we kinda of... lost the security program to the hackers." Asuma finished, standing nervously in front of Sasuke. The Uchiha was younger than him by a decade, at least, but he had been chosen by Fugaku himself and had also shown himself to be a calm and rational individual. Most of the time. That, and Sasuke had made more progress a week into his position than the previous head had made during the entire time he was on the case. The Uchiha took the news calmly, as usual; as if it hadn't taken their best researchers a month to make that program. As if the hackers hadn't copied and destroyed it in seconds, and the only trail had them wading through websites from all over the world.

At his desk, Sasuke was pinching the bridge of nose, his mind traveling fast. How could they get ahead? If these were really high school students they would have to either be geniuses themselves, led by a genius, or a combination of both of those. None of those theories sat well will the Head of the Cyber-division. He sighed. Out of all the people to ask to lead this investigation why had his father chosen him?

Sasuke leaned back in his chair, reviewing what they knew. The fact the hackers acted on the security program less than 24 hours after its activation was something. Exactly _what_ was up in the air. Previously, programs were left alone unless the hackers needed to go through them to get to something; even then the program was destroyed, not copied with the data left alone. What was different about the newest program? Why did the hackers copy it and not the data beneath it before setting viruses loose on the computer mainframe? "I want security around headquarters doubled, include all of the computers on the Police network and not just ours." The teen picked up the file, glancing over it, "Bring the teachers here, I'm calling a meeting."

"Yes, sir." Asuma left quietly, sighing slightly in relief when the there was a door separating him from the Uchiha. Sasuke had that thinking pose of his, eyes staring at something but not really seeing it, and it would not be wise to disturb him for the next little while. Some of the best decisions were made after such sessions, and Asuma had to track down his fellow peers. A task easier said than done seeing how almost all of them had turned off their phones, the buggers. He could be marking tests right now, not playing pretend cop.

Back in the office, Sasuke started putting away his paperwork. His mind kept going in circles, but he couldn't figure out the center. The thing that was annoying was that they had so much information, yet it didn't tell them anything. With his mind the way it was, he would be lucky to get anything else done today.

"You can come out, Kakashi." Sasuke called to the empty room, not bothering to remove his eyes from the report. Said teacher stepped out from the shadows, familiar orange book in hand. The first time Kakashi had pulled that stunt, he'd had to deal with several rapid punches from Sasuke who, at the time, thought he was an attacker. The gym teacher had never been so proud to have been hit with a left hook he'd taught to one of his students. "Find anything?"

"Look at this." The silver-haired man flipped a page while he handed over a folded newspaper clipping. Slightly intrigued, Sasuke read the top-most articles- from the economic section of the newspaper, he noted. When the last sentence had been read, the Uchiha glanced at Kakashi. " 'Konoha. Inc. buys the Silver Hawk and the Business Bros'? There is nothing unusual about that, Kakashi."

Kakashi flipped another page, "The article is useless." Biting back a sigh, Sasuke raised a brow, waiting for the man in front of his desk to continue. "But not the picture. Look underneath the underneath." Hatake was such a pain with his cryptic metaphors, a prodigy of un-rivaled intelligence in the police and a former captain of the specialized ANBU squad yes, but still a pain.

With the metaphor in mind, the Uchiha glanced at the black and white photo. Namikaze Minato, the genius billionaire CEO of Konoha. Inc was waving to the cameras from what appeared to be a living room of his mansion. The photo was completely normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The shelves were neat, the couch was clean, and the windows showed a garden outside.

Sasuke was about to comment there was nothing there besides a billionaire and his living room, when it caught his eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened before narrowing in on what appeared to be the back of a familiar head of hair, hidden slightly by the couch. He saw the back of that head daily when the owner ran away from Kiba during lunch, passing Sasuke's locker without fail. It couldn't be…

The Uchiha leaned back into his chair, confusion in his expression, "What is an orphan doing at a billionaire's house?"

________________________________________________________________

"We need a list of the police officers in the school." The meeting was the second time they'd used the table this week. Though, now, the police were actually gaining on them. They had thought would take a lot longer before the hackers had to consider the notion. "Logically, they'll target those known to show high intelligence. Therefore, we counter with someone inconspicuous. Someone they wouldn't expect." Itachi paused, glancing at one of the female hackers and catching her attention. "Can you do it?"

She nodded quietly.

"Good." The Uchiha addressed the whole table gravely. "The stakes are getting higher, and things will only be speeding up from here." Everyone present gave various signs of acknowledgement and Itachi did not continue until he had seen each of them give one sign, "Brace yourselves; it's going to be a rough ride. Now..." His tone changed, hardening, "Scram. I have to get my beauty sleep."

With that, and the wild dash to get out the tired Uchiha's way in case he went on a warpath to his bed, the meeting was over.

_________________________________________________________________

The following Monday, during the lunch break, had Sasuke looking at the list of possible suspects Sakura had managed to organize for her partner; a daunting task she had tackled with gusto and completed by the end of the weekend. Sakura, in a particularly clever move, had set up names on the paper to resemble a party list, on the rare chance Sasuke might lose it. Regardless of how it was organized, it pretty much included everyone in the school. Sakura had done her part of the job. He now had the task of narrowing the scope of list by figuring out which members of the student body definitely weren't hackers and which probably were. It was a good thing this school was relatively small.

The Uchiha looked at the first names on the list: the exchange students from some high school in another city. Though they had been attending the school for some time now, they were still referred to as the exchange students. Raising his head, he glanced over to where the group was hanging out together by the basketball court. They were a strange bunch who called themselves the Sound five. It didn't make much sense to Sasuke, since there were six of them.

The only female of the group, Tayuya, was definitely out, as she had an early on expressed an extreme hated of computers. This could be faked, of course, but all reports, including the one stated she had kicked the computer her parents had tried to get when she was five, supported this claim. A quick check with the family showed that neither of her parents were especially skilled at computers, either. There was no record of past criminal activity. With a neat check mark, she was added to the 'no' list.

Kidoumaru, while only slightly above average academically, was Shikamaru's chief rival in chess. If his marks were anything to go by, he was taking Shikamaru's approach to the education system. But chess wasn't the only strategy game he was insanely good at. He'd recently taken to computer games of the same genre, and he was obviously intelligent. So he could conceivably be a hacker. His name was added to the 'maybe' list.

Standing next to the Sound Five, close enough to be included but far enough away not to be part of the group, was Kimimaro. The Kaguya was leaning against the fence and scanning the crowd; occasional pausing on the group of girls Sakura was with (_was he friends with one of them?_). He was one of the top suspects, as far as Sasuke was concerned. Smart, antisocial, good with computers and everyone knew he hated the police for some reason. Sasuke had been the victim of more than one 'accident' involving the blond boy, presumably because he was an Uchiha. During Gym, when they were practicing martial arts, the Kaguya had just about given Sasuke a concussion in a spar and refused to apologize. He put him on the 'yes' list.

The calmest member of the Sound Four, if you discounted Kimimaro's almost unnatural calm, was Jiroubou. Sasuke would sooner believe _Hinata_ to be a hacker. His father's company had been one of the many companies attacked by the hackers, and his family had had close ties to the police in their old town. Reports said that Jiroubou had shown a lot of concern about what would happen to his father's job if the hackers attacked again. Sasuke put him on the 'no' list.

The twins, Sakon and Ukon, were always a mystery. They kept to themselves and didn't socialize much with anyone outside their group. Their grades were average and had no special talents that anyone knew of. They'd both gotten into several fights since the beginning of the school year, but there wasn't anything particularly suspicious about that. Ordinary delinquents, if anything. After a moment's pause, Sasuke put both on the 'no' list.

He looked at the next name on the list: Hyuuga Neji. As one of the smartest kids in school, Neji was near the top of the list when it came to suspects. Although his family was closely allied with the police, he seemed to hate both his family and anyone connected with them. From what Sasuke had learned there was a legitimate reason for the enmity between the Hyuuga and his family, and somehow Hinata, his cousin, was excluded from this. Sasuke wondered it if had always been that way. Tenten and Lee, his closest friends, had been recruited to watch him. With a steady hand the Uchiha checked "yes" beside the Hyuuga's name.

Next on the list was Ino. Sakura had her covered, though, along with the rest of the girls, her stylized checkmarks already decorating the list. A quick glance had Ino in the "no" category along with a majority of the other girls. His partner had even bothered to give reasons for each of the decisions. There was nothing like someone who was competent at their job.

Naruto was after that and Sasuke honestly wondered why he hadn't immediately been exempted upon his name being placed. The Uchiha glanced up to see the blond idiot currently chattering enthusiastically to Gaara, his polar opposite, near the field, his arms waving wildly in excitement. Naruto was the last person anyone would suspect of being part of something as organized as a hacker group. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but remember the picture in the newspaper clipping. It was possible that Naruto was more than he seemed, strange as the thought was. Sasuke hesitated, and then put him on the 'maybe' list.

He turned his attention to the name following Naruto's. Gaara was your stereotypical Goth, clad in black, chains, nail polish and eyeliner. The Uchiha could definitely see him in a conspiracy, but he didn't have any background with computers. His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, were even less likely. Sasuke put them in the 'no' and Gaara in 'maybe'.

The next name stopped him cold. Uchiha Itachi. What on earth had possessed Sakura to even consider his brother being a hacker? Yes, he had told her to add everyone's names, but Sasuke _knew_ his brother. Itachi would never do something like this. She might as well have put his own name on the list. Itachi was as much a part of the police force as the rest of the family, for all he'd begged out of an official position. That was a definite 'no'.

The next three names were of Itachi's friends: Kisame, Deidara and Sasori. Sasuke doubted Kisame was a hacker, having grown up on a farm and never showing any interest in electronics, and Deidara was even more unlikely. Sasori struck Sasuke as being a bit shady, even with a steady employment and several people attesting to his work ethic, but he also had little background with computers. Besides, if any of those three were involved in anything illegal, Itachi would know. Sasuke was very confident that his brother wouldn't hide something like this even for a friend.

Hyuuga Hinata, a timid girl who was actually heir to the Hyuuga family, though everyone expected her to resign in favor of her much more adventurous younger sister, Hanabi. She wouldn't hurt a fly even if it bit her, while Neji would most definitely hunt down that fly and smush it for her. She wasn't a hacker. Sasuke put her on the 'no' list.

Inuzuka Kiba was next. Members of the police thought he would be a good candidate for the dog in the Zodiac, but Sasuke didn't think so. Kiba wasn't really capable of being discreet, which was required when one was doing something one didn't want others to know about. When Kiba was plotting something (usually to get back at Naruto) the whole school knew about it. Usually a few seconds after he'd begun plotting. He was on the 'no' list.

Shino was certainly creepy enough to be suspicious, but that was really the only thing they had against him. That and according to their records he never existed previous to his enrollment in grade school. A gap in information like that would have to be fixed. Sasuke put him on the 'maybe' list, just to be sure.

After that were Shikamaru and Chouji. The Uchiha flipped through his various notes, nibbling on an apple, only to frown. The police had no information on them at all. Sasuke raised an eyebrow: that was odd, even more so since they weren't the only ones. He'd have to ask about that, he thought as he put them on the 'maybe' list.

He didn't get through the rest of the list before lunch break ended, but he made progress. He'd have to finish after school, or maybe tomorrow. He suspected most of the computer classes would have to be watched. Sighing slightly, Sasuke started to put the list away and pack up, but paused at the next name on the list. Mitarashi Anko. She had a pretty shady past, Sasuke mused, and she was a genius at physics. She'd stunned the rest of her class when she finished twenty minutes ahead of them and aced tests without so much as batting an eyelash. She also came from nowhere. One minute she wasn't there the next Ibiki had taken her in, raising her as his own. As Sasuke put her down as 'maybe' he hoped the others were having more luck.

_________________________________________________________________

"This is wrong. He's our friend." Tenten muttered to Lee as they discreetly watched Neji. Thanks to the full-length windows making a wall on the lab they could do so in the next room, while pretending to bend over something else. Lee had good eyesight. Neji was supposedly doing research for a project, and so far that was true. Neither Lee nor Tenten really believed he was up to something. They just wanted to clear the Hyuuga's name and move on with their lives.

"Maybe, but it's our job, Tenten." One of the worst decisions they had ever made, replacing Neji's entire wardrobe with girl's uniforms included, and Lee was uncharacteristically serious in the matter. They went quiet when Neji logged off the computer and left the room. Tenten and Lee followed after a moment, doing their best to avoid detection.

A short while after the duo had vacated the area, Hinata walked in. Sinking gracefully into the chair her cousin had been but minutes before, the heiress quickly scanned the room for anyone who could be watching her. None were interested in what the Hyuuga was doing, of course. She'd been counting on that.

She logged in as her math teacher, Iruka, and with a few fast keystrokes opened the program Neji had downloaded for her. They had been counting on him being watched, so changing the window of the program was a necessary task, easy as it was. A message popped up, asking her if she would like to use the "Byakugan". Hinata gave a small smile and clicked 'yes'.

_________________________________________________________________

The day should have been uneventful. So naturally, just to contradict the officer, it wasn't. He stared at the screen, blinking like an owl. "Umm... ma'am?" Kurenai glanced up from her work, marking the tests she had given her students to complete earlier that day, to where the officer had spoken.

"What is it?" Kurenai's tone was crisp and clear, a result of her upbringing. It only served to heighten the officer's hesitance. She watched as the man fidgeted under her red gaze, opening his mouth a couple of times and closing it again.

Finally he spoke, "I think you should look at this." He pushed away from the desk as an invitation, eyebrow raised. His confusion was evident even from where Kurenai was sitting.

Sighing, Kurenai put the papers down with her marking pen on top of them, and was leaning over the screen in a matter of seconds. Her eyes darted over the monitor, resting on the moving dot the officer was pointing at. "Enlarge it."

There was a sinking feeling in her chest as the picture quality cleared and Kurenai almost cursed. On the screen, smiling shyly with a gentle wave of its hoof, a red and black sheep stared back. Kurenai stood straight, shouting orders in the same manner she did when scolding a class clown. "Turn off the computers! NOW!"

It took little over a minute for everything to shut off, leaving the officers sitting in the now dead silent room. The sheep was still smiling shyly at them, even as Kurenai ran out of the room to find the Head of the Cyber Department.

__________________________________________________________________

"Great job, Hinata-chan, un!" Hinata didn't have time to dodge the glomp as Deidara all but flew towards her. The heiress blushed brightly from the attention, unsure how to react to the hug. This didn't bother the blond in the least even when he rubbed her head with his, thanks to his height over Hinata.

Still blushing brightly, Hinata quietly mumbled out, "But... they discovered me. I won't be able to get any more information now." Deidara's arm did not loosen from their grip around the heiress like she had hoped.

"But you got so much information already, un!" Deidara told her, releasing one arm to point at a large pile of papers. Printed on each was information Hinata had taken from the police's computers. Though, it had yet to be condensed for easier reading at meetings. The leader really had no regard for how many trees they were killing daily this way.

"He's right, Hinata. You've done a great job." Kisame commented as he begun to read over the information, trying to condense it while sipping a glass of water. "I think the Leader will be pleased."

Itachi walked into the room, either oblivious to the atmosphere or simply not caring one way or another. "Deidara," The blond glanced up when he said his name, "You need to destroy a computer of the company called Iricom. We've been stealing from them and they've gotten nosy."

Frowning slightly, Deidara freed Hinata from his grip. He was vaguely surprised when she didn't immediately scurry away as fast as she could. Instead she quietly sat down at her computers, surrounded with the fresh lilies Deidara gave her daily (nobody was quite sure why, as Hinata didn't like lilies), and watched the blond as sat at his newly rewired computers. The blond quickly had his system ready and finished his adjustments. "C1 activated."

_________________________________________________________________

"So these are the cops." Sasori muttered, looking over the papers. Anko's head was resting on his shoulder, letting her read the papers too. The redhead sighed softly, hazel eyes focusing on the various names with practiced ease. "From the looks of it, just about all the teachers."

Anko brought her head closer to the nook of Sasori's neck, "Well, at least one of them is on our side." She pulled her head back after one last nuzzle, standing tall in her trench coat, and glanced at the time. "Mah, I'd better be getting back to Ibiki's place."

"Bye." Sasori said absently, flipping through the papers. Frowning, Anko hugged the redhead from behind, interlocking her arms around Sasori in a manner that prevented him from continuing his reading, resting her chin on top of his head.

"Don't work so hard. You'll turn into Itachi." Anko advised, before releasing her grip and finally heading out. The door closed silently behind her, leaving Sasori to finish the extraction of anything significant from the information.

Finish... End... Whatever.

Now Zodiac Viruses- chapter 2- Stupid Genius Hackers- ending program...

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-? Age-? Program-?

Rooster-? Age-? Program-?

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-? Age-? Program-?

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- ?

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Let me know what you think! ^-^


	3. Bring in the She Devil

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 3- Bring in the 'She-devil'- launching program...

Sitting at her desk, classical music playing quietly from the stereo system in the corner, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan reviewed her notes with eyes half-shut from exhaustion. Homework could be overwhelming sometimes, like tonight. Hinata had barely begun her science work when a beeping from her computer informed her she had mail. She paused to glance curiously at the side of her desk, where she'd left her laptop open earlier that day. Not many people knew her email address. This was probably from- her eyes widened a bit when she saw the sender. Why would he, of all people, be contacting her? Hinata set her pen down and opened the message with a quick click of the mouse-pad.

The email started off benignly enough, complimenting her on the information she'd gathered and drawing a dark blush from her. The man knew how to give good compliments. She glanced down to the reason he had contacted her. Her eyes widened slightly at the request; Hinata could only wonder why he wanted her to learn how to fly something so random. However, she knew something of their Leader from the brief contact she'd had at meetings. The e-mail account he had sent the message from was probably already deleted and she dared not track down his original account to question the man.

Sighing softly, Hinata slowly closed her homework and downloaded the attachment from the e-mail, encrypted it and deleted any evidence of the e-mail from her computer, her hard-drive and her e-mail server. Once that was complete, she opened the file and began to read, well aware that she was in for a long night.

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Sasuke was not pleased with how things were going. Two names were blank on his list of suspect information and it seemed no matter where he turned in his search for information on them a brick wall blocked his way. He wasn't the only one having trouble. Not even Kakashi, with all his contacts in ANBU and the government, was turning up anything other than mediocre marks and perfect behavioral records. Even Shino had _something_ in his records (an incident involving a disagreement with his first grade teacher about a spider and Shino bringing in a tarantula to better illustrate his point that they were an arthropod and not a 'bug'). He swiveled around in his seat to address the other members of the meeting. "I'll get to the point. Why don't we have any information on Chouji and Shikamaru?"

Asuma sighed, a poof of smoke escaping his mouth and floating around his head, and gestured at the numerous files covering the table. Other teachers glanced up at the question, just as interested as Sasuke. "No idea. We've run their names through every database we have and nothing has popped up yet."

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, breathing deeply, "Fine. I want the background of both their families checked out, along with anyone on the 'yes' and 'maybe' list." He paused to watch through the glass wall panes of the room as a team of officers lugged a melted computer in for observation. It was a sight he was getting tired of seeing every other day. "Do we know how they got into our database and what they took?"

"No." The only female in the room spoke up, frustration evident in Kurenai's voice, "The firewall and tracking programs reported nothing, and we don't know how long it was in there before somebody noticed." This was a rather personal matter for her -her programmer's pride had defiantly been wounded at the failure of the protection program. She'd helped build a lot of their defense systems and this was the first time they had failed her.

It was a problem Sasuke didn't know how to deal with. "Can anyone run a check on our list of suspects to make sure we didn't miss anyone?" Sasuke glanced around from where he was standing. The room was silent at his question; really he felt like the teacher they were supposed to be when they asked a student to write the answer on the board. It took effort to bite back his sigh.

The teachers glanced at each other nervously, once again reminding Sasuke of students. These were the officers trying to track down the most dangerous group of hackers the cyber division had ever encountered. Gai shook his head after a moment. "I'm afraid not."

Sasuke couldn't hold back his sigh that time, "I'm going home. I want security upgraded tomorrow and any information you've gathered on the suspects. I'll take care of the lists. Dismissed." He all but plopped down in a chair watching as the officers disperse from the meeting in groups of two and three.

Only Kakashi lagged behind, reading his novel as his superior gathered his thoughts and files. Sasuke stood and begun to make his way out, the silver-haired gym teacher following dutifully. Kakashi spoke up when they neared the teen's office, "If you want, I'll drive you home."

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Sasuke waved goodbye to Kakashi as he drove off, waiting until the car had made the corner before making his way to the front porch. One hand rubbing the back of his neck wearily, Sasuke fished around for his key and shoved it in the lock. Dropped his backpack on the floor just inside the door and slowly stretched. "I'm home," he called toward the door the smell of dinner cooking was coming from. His mother stuck her head out, smiling pleasantly. Often, when they went to the market, Sasuke over-heard strangers commenting on how someone so young could have a teenager for a son. Sasuke could understand how they would wonder: Mikoto didn't look a day over 25.

"Welcome back, Sasuke!"

Sasuke took off his shoes and placed them on a mat, sliding on a pair of slippers in their place, and then headed to the dining room. His father was already there, seated at the low table reserved for Sasuke's parents, pens and paper spread neatly in front of him. Fugaku didn't appear to have noticed his youngest son's entrance. Sasuke had known better since he was five: nothing escaped his father when he was home.

"How was your day?" he asked, not looking up.

"Terrible." Sasuke collapsed on the floor ungracefully. Then, at his mother's sharp glance, pulled himself into a kneel that mimicked his father's formal position. Oolong tea appeared in front of him with magic only a mother like Mikoto could perform.

That got his father's attention, black eyes glancing up briefly, though he didn't pause in his work. "What happened?" It was a demand, as clear as the pen scratching the paper.

Sasuke steeled himself. This was no different than when he was delivering a report, even during a dinner. "The hackers destroyed a computer system at Iricom. Their entire financial history is gone. The list of suspects needs to be double-checked and we are lacking the information to complete that. Two of the suspects aren't even in our database and-" Sasuke paused here. "- today the police computers were hacked and an unknown amount of information was taken."

Fugaku stopped writing something briefly, then resumed.

"You're making more progress than the others who were on this case." Sasuke glanced down, hiding his surprise at even the veiled compliment. "The hackers would naturally see you as a threat, so an attack on the police is to be expected. What this means is that you're getting close, and they're panicking."

Fugaku shuffled the paper, lighting tapping them into place on the wood surface of the table. "I'll ask someone who owes me a favour to help you out. Her tactics are… unconventional, but she's one of the best informants out there." He looked Sasuke in the eye, chilling the boy. "Do not fail me, Sasuke."

Sasuke could only nod.

On the top of the stairs, out of even Mikoto's line of sight, Itachi listened to the two policemen. He mentally went through everything he knew about Fugaku and which high quality informants owed him a favour. The list was short. Especially since he already had a good idea of who his father was talking about.

This complicated things.

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Anko took aim carefully, lining her spoon with Ibiki's face and mentally taking into account air resistance, the likely-hood of him trying to dodge and the force needed for the best possible hit that would cover Ibiki's face but not the wall behind him, when the phone rang. Startled out of her concentration, she dropped the spoon, scattering peas everywhere. Ibiki smirked at her. "You're cleaning that up."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and considered her chances of getting off another short as he greeted whoever was on the phone. She decided against it, since the phone was probably for her. Ibiki didn't get many phone calls, as people were generally scared of him. Not that she was much better; she just had friends crazier than she was.

After a few seconds, Ibiki turned to her and held out the phone. "It's Itachi."

Anko blinked, and stood from where she had been picking up the scattered vegetables. Confused, she raised one purple eyebrow in an appropriately quizzical manner. "What does he want?"

Ibiki shrugged. "Don't know." He never really bothered keeping track of who Anko was hanging out with or what they were planning. Not that he had to worry about the girl. In fact, as far as he was concerned it was other people who should be worried. The girl was a fighter, a street rat with enough tricks up her sleeve to survive and thrive in the back alleyways. She wouldn't get caught.

She took the phone from him, casually flicking a pea into his nose. Not even a blink. Anko had yet to find anything that fazed the man – and not for lack of trying. Watching her guardian with a careful eye, she didn't like the way the mash potatoes were in flinging position on the spoon, the teen spoke into speaker, "Hello?"

"Anko. Deidara got attacked by a cat." The Uchiha's smooth tenor was flat, as usual, not helping in the least when it came to small talk.

Anko played along and rolled her eyes, not that he could see. Ibiki was already zoning out, calmly eating his supper with the western utensils. He'd brought all of them back with him after a study trip over in Europe. Unfortunately the trip had taken place long before she was picked up by the man, otherwise she probably would have pestered him until he took her along. "Again? I thought we told him not to cut through alleys."

"We did." Itachi agreed with his monotone, slightly exasperated. The boy could act almost as well as Deidara, who could blend anywhere he wanted. She wasn't sure what he did, or how he did it, but the blond could go from top of the line businessman with a superior air about him that matching his impeccable suit to the run-down teenage female standing behind the counter at the local supermarket in about five minutes. Really. She'd timed him. "This time he says it was really big."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "A big one? Which way did it go?" At least Deidara didn't have a reputation to defend or he would be slightly irked at the dirt on his name. She narrowed her eyes in warning as Ibiki very casually spooned some peas.

"Who knows. I think he was hallucinating again." She could picture Itachi shrugging, still exasperated with the entire conversation and not liking in the least being the one to inform another of his somewhat-friend's stupidity. Sasori would probably have just snorted and Kisame would have laughed. At least that would be the impression this entire conversation would give off.

"Like the giant rat incident?" Anko's eyes narrowed further into a glare at Ibiki to discourage him from flinging the tomato sauce he had in a spoon. The man smirked and carefully placed the loaded spoon on the plate, switching over to the fork for the rice.

"No, like the old lady one." Had she been anyone else, she might have paled or even paused in her answering. Instead Anko sighed loudly, keeping with the tone of the discussion perfectly.

"That bad, huh?" Glancing down, Anko focused on the floor to the dining room. Counting the peas on the floor.

"Yes." Bland as always. A few adjectives would have been nice, even if it was out of character for Itachi. The only reason he was bothering to tell her at all was because she was one of the only members of their little group who could make sure the message made it to everyone without raising suspicions.

"Fine. I'll tell Sasori." She'd tell her boyfriend, who'd then tell Deidara and therefore Kisame. Then Anko could tell Hinata, who she spoke to after school at times, and the chain would continue the message. It was like playing telephone, only the message never changed in a humourous manner. "Later."

"Good night." Anko Quietly hung up the phone and returned to her seat, watching her guardian carefully for any sudden moves. It wasn't necessary; Ibiki seemed to have lost interest in their food fight/ Physics lesson of food vs. air.

"So what did Itachi want?" Ibiki may not have particularly cared for who she hung out with, but he did have a problem with people calling during supper and interrupting an important lesson.

She shrugged. "Deidara was hallucinating again." She picked up a fork and stabbed a piece of potato with a great deal of force. Purple eyes were back to watching his every move. There was no way he'd lose interest that fast.

"Oh." Ibiki eyed the fork with equal wariness and spooned some soup. There was a moment where neither of them brought the food towards their mouths. Instead, they shifted how they were holding the utensils.

Then flung the food.

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Itachi was not an easily intimidated person. That was the main reason he had been promoted to second in command. It was also why he could stick to the point when talking with the first in command. So it was only natural that when something came up he was the one responsible for spreading the word. And for informing their leader – something most would shy away from.

His room was dark, and his painting supplies had been safely stored in the corner by the phone. One painting was half-finished, resting on an easel in front of a stool, but only a select few people would have realized what the subject was. Itachi had kept out only a small set of acrylic paints, and he turned one slowly in one hand as he stared thoughtfully at the royal blue hues covering the painting. His other hand picked up the phone on the table and absently dialled a number.

A moment passed before a man answered, typing in the back ground. He was at work it seemed. Itachi would be quick, then. "Hello?" There was no pause in the typing.

"Leader." Itachi's voice was quiet, so that even if someone had bugged his room or was leaning against the door they wouldn't be able to hear the conversation. His cell phone had already been checked for any recording devices, of course, since he didn't trust the house phone. As for the Leader, Itachi doubted that anyone was stupid enough to try and bug his phones.

A sigh came from the other side, along with a brief pause in typing. "Didn't I tell you not to call me unless it's an emergency?" He had. Several times, in fact, and Itachi had never called before unless it was one of the planned dates for him to. Itachi was slightly put out that the man didn't assume he had a good reason.

"You did." He answered, coolly. He set the container down gently. The painting already had the outline of a bird, wings outstretch as it hovered over a human figure. Bird claw joined the human at the shoulder, bleeding into one another until it was difficult to tell where one began and the other ended.

"It's an emergency?" Again the typing paused, this time a painter sounded faintly. Paper was shuffled, and the typing continued. The leader was always typing whenever he called. Always.

"Yes." He wasn't happy about one of the wings. It was off by a couple centimetres, enough to be noticed. The figure needed to be darker as well, to keep with the theme. Swirls or smoke would have to be added, of course, perhaps surrounding the figure from the front.

"What is it?" Now the voice was curious. The typing had stopped completely and there were no other sounds. Itachi could see the man leaning against the back of his chair, a pen in hand.

No need to be subtle. "The police are hiring the 'she-devil'."

There was a pause. The Leader was probably calculating how this would change their plans. Finally the man answered, "...That's not good."

"No, it isn't." Besides the wings, he wanted to adjust the background a bit more. Would fog work? No… words would be better. Have them hiding around for those with a sharp eye and open mind.

"All right." The typing started up again, and a few moments passed in silence. Itachi knew better than to interrupt the leader when he was thinking. Finally the man spoke up again, "Call an emergency meeting. I want a 24/7 surveillance put on the police, understood?"

"Yes." It wasn't like the instructions were hard to understand. The leader had once organized a complex hack that targeted several businesses at the same time. Then, timing had been critical and one hasty misstep would have cost them the operation. The plan had gone off without a hitch.

"Good." With that, the leader of the Zodiac Viruses hung up. The Uchiha paused a moment, staring at the phone's screen, before closing it with a sharp snap. Reviewing what he needed to fix on the painting, he picked up a brush and continued his work.

"This is a line break. Got it?"

When Itachi entered the base he was greeted by a deafening roar of conversation. The hackers were nervous, it seemed, and at his entrance several glanced at him, begging him silently to tell them what was going on. Itachi frowned at their anxious expressions. While indeed this information was… unnerving, it was nothing to panic over. Not yet, at least.

"Shut up." Standing at the top of the stairs, his quiet voice somehow echoed through the whole room. Silence fell, and all were eyes trained on him as he made his way to the head of the table. Itachi satS, his hands intertwined in front of him, and waited for the inevitable.

"Is it true? Are they going to hire _her_?" A female voice spoke up anxiously.

"Yes. It's been confirmed." Murmurs rippled through the room at that announcement.

"Whose side is she on?" Another voice asked.

"We don't know. Leader says that there's a good chance she'll be on our side." Several hackers relaxed noticeably at this. Itachi, personally, did not believe the woman had the patience to work with the police chief for long periods of time.

"What does the boss want done?"

"He wants constant surveillance on the police." A very logical choice that they should have done sooner. Why hadn't they?

"I can do it. Their surveillance system, at least. Depending on how many cameras they have I may need all the TV's." Sasori commented. "We'll need someone else to monitor the computer system once I'm in, of course." Everyone turned to Hinata.

The girl blushed and looked down at the attention. "I- I can't do it. I have an exam to study for."

Everyone turned to the boy beside her, who sighed. "Fine. I'll do it, but only when I'm here. The police are watching me like a hawk. And I'll need Anko to cover my tracks if I'm to use it for long intervals."

"Fine by me." Anko shrugged, returning to munching on her dango. Her pastime kept her quite happy and therefore unlikely to rip someone's head off.

"Excellent. You should start now." Itachi dismissed the three hackers, and then turned to the rest of the group. "Aside from that, we'll continue as usual. On the bulletin board is the list of businesses to hit. Your names are beside your targets. Remember to cover your tracks; use Anko's program when she gets it running. The last thing we is one of you getting caught."

Everyone split into groups. Soon the basement was filled with the sound of fingers hitting computers keys at high speeds. Several times, one of them wheeled over to a neighbour for assistance. The list was long today, and most of the hackers would be spending the night there.

"Are you ready, Anko?" Sasori asked.

"Almost..." Anko was so absorbed in her work she almost sounded polite. Fortunately, there was no one there who'd actually make that assumption about the girl. The dango stick in her mouth flicked up and down as she typed. "Snakes + Ladders is ready... now!"

"Puppet is ready." Sasori replied. A quick nod from Itachi had the redhead sending the program deep into enemy territory. No problems thus far. "It's in. Where do you want it?"

"Control the security cameras and main computer. I want visuals of the whole station."

Not even a moment later, Sasori was finished. "Done." On the highest balcony, where blank screens flickered with the static that accompanied a lack of signal, televisions on one wall all began lighting up. Scenes from various cameras showed nearly every room in the station, ready for anything that would give them an advantage.

"Good. Neji, Hinata, I want you to hack into Sasuke's computer."

Hinata and Neji sat side by side. Unlike the others, there was no wall separating their cubicles. Some of their work required help, especially considering Byakugan allowed them to take what they needed but needed the user's complete attention. If no one was watching when hacking a good security system, they risked being traced. "Neji-nii-san, can you cover me?"

A side glance; they both already knew the answer, "Of course."

"Byakugan opened." Softly, the heiress smiled.

"Kaiton sent via Byakugan."

Itachi sat down in front of his computers, list of businesses in hand. He bit back a sigh as he flipped through it; most of these companies were higher security than what they were used to. This would take a while. "Kisame, make some more coffee. We're going to need it."

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Someone glanced at the time. 4:05 in the morning. What first appeared to be an all-nighter had only taken them to three a.m; long enough to feel like an all-nighter but short enough to let them have at least some sleep.

And sleep they did, because the first time the boss had walked in on them after a similar night to find the hackers sleeping on the couch, an arm chair, two of the office chair put together and the meeting table, he left immediately. When he returned, he came with a gift of futons, blankets and pillows. The next time they were given such a long list, a coffee machine had magically appeared in the kitchen area in the same manner as the list.

At the time, Itachi had been the only one awake. He'd helped the leader get the futons down the stairs, and afterward the man stayed with him to simply… talk. About nothing, really, which was something of a novelty to the Uchiha. He found that he enjoyed it. He had never heard of a leader caring about their minions. It was enough to have him, and a few others, overlook quite a few of his flaws.

"You'd better get to sleep, un." He glanced down to where Deidara blinked at him from his futon. The blond's hair was mussed from sleep and his eyes were tired. They had had this conversation before.

"I don't need sleep." Turning back to the crossword in his hands, he ignored the blond's response. Unless Deidara had something new to add to this argument, nothing had changed.

"Everyone needs sleep, un." The counter was swift.

"Not me." He paused, thinking about a word, "Why are you awake?"

Deidara smiled tiredly, not that he could see it. " 'Cause fishface is snoring to loudly to get to sleep, un."

It was true that Kisame snored rather loudly. Kisame, of course, was of the opinion that another member was louder. Having been the only one to hear the both of them, Itachi thought that they were both idiots and the argument was useless, "Go to sleep, Deidara."

"Whatever, un."

"This is a line break. Got it?"

Sasuke stood in front of the station beside his father and a select few others. Fugaku was, to all appearances, calm. But Sasuke thought that the slight furrow of his brow suggested something akin to worry. Was he not sure of his decision? The reinforcement was due to arrive any moment and now was not the time to be regretting his choice. His father's uneasiness was contagious, and Sasuke found himself worrying about this new agent.

"I suggest you put that book away, Kakashi." Fugaku spoke quietly from his position beside his son, interrupting the morning calm. Said officer sighed, mumbling about how it was 'just getting good', before complying. Sasuke thought that was odd; Fugaku may have disliked Kakashi's reading material, but this was the first time he had actually requested it to disappear.

In the turnoff to the station an SUV pulled in, slowing to a stop in front of the welcoming committee. They watched as the driver's door opened and a heel hit the pavement. Stepping away from the vehicle, heels clicking sharply, a bustly blond stood in front of them. She took off her sunglasses, revealing honey brown eyes with a hint of anger to them, and regarded the crowd.

"Which one of you is the Uchiha brat?"

Finish... End... Whatever.

Now Zodiac Viruses- chapter 3- Bring in the 'she-devil'-ending program...

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-17 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-? Age-? Program-?

Rooster-? Age-? Program-?

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-? Age-? Program-?

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.


	4. The King Thing?

Remember, Kazuma Arashi is now Namikaze Minato.

Written by: BasicallyAnIdiot

Edited by: RBMIfan (I'd like to note she now has a site called 'Ask The Shinobi' on Piczo. You get to ask questions to the shinobi of Naruto!)

Warnings: AU, OOC moments (I'll try my best to keep those to a minimal), and no copying.

Disclaimer: This will go for the entire fic: I BasicallyAnIdiot do not own Naruto +company, merchandise, games, and anything else that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I am borrowing Naruto + company for the purpose of this story. Meaning: I am not doing anything illegal, so back off lawyers!

Now that's over we'll continue.

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 4- The King Thing? - launching program…

Itachi woke up reluctantly, absently rubbing the sand out of his eyes. Sitting up, he glanced at the various shiny objects, ranging from sharpeners to wrapping paper to sparkles glued on construction paper, which decorated his room.

He turned on his lamp, immediately regretting it. The light reflected off his glittering walls, ceiling and floor in a chain reaction that succeeded in blinding him. It was actually very pretty, but not having to walk about blindly for the first half hour of every morning wasn't worth it. He turned the lamp off and, as he did every morning, resolved to get rid of it. Because there was no way he was getting rid of his shinies.

Dressed, showered and able to see again, Itachi made his way down the stairs. His mother smiled at him and handed him breakfast. "Your father expects you at the station after school, he wants your help on one of the projects."

Itachi nodded as he sat down. "I'll be there."

* * *

Itachi had gotten out of his car in the student parking lot and looked around for friends. It wasn't hard to find them: Kisame towered over everyone else and Deidara's arm was threatening to come out of its socket with how hard he was waving. Itachi wondered if the blond had gotten into the sugar again.

"Didn't we forbid him from eating sugar?" He asked Sasori as he joined the group.

"Yes. I think his body manufactures its own."

Homeroom went smoothly, as usual. Itachi had somehow managed to convince the teacher to supply him with pocky. This wasn't hard, seeing as how all of the teachers worshipped the Uchiha prodigy, much to the annoyance of the other students.

Their art teacher was late, as usual. He was also as helpful as he usually was. "We're doing a project today. I don't care how you do it, but it has to be art and it has to be good." Sai, their teacher, looked at the silent class. "What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

The students, most of whom were more than a little frightened of the teacher, immediately got to work. Itachi started painting a picture of Chiyo, Sasori's grandmother, telling off Sai. He smirked; it had been the most memorable part of the year. Sai had to stop Deidara from using the entire clay supply of clay, since apparently he wanted to make a life-size dragon. Itachi had no doubt he could do it, too. Sasori started on his latest in a series of puppets (he called them movable wood-carvings to make them pass as art, since puppets officially weren't), this one being a chibified version of Sasuke (that Itachi was watching carefully to make sure it was properly cute).

Kisame was having difficulty.

"Sensei?"

Sai walked over. "What?"

"I'm having some trouble…" They both looked at the piece of paper, where he had laboriously drawn a single line.

Sai blinked. "Why are you in art and how did you get here?"

Kisame pointed at Itachi. "He made me and the people making the schedule worships the ground he walks on."

Sai blinked again. "Oh." He looked at the paper again. "You might want to come in for extra help."

They were interrupted by a thump from the back of the class. "Deidara! I told you not to use all the clay!"

* * *

Music was the other way around. Since Kisame had been forced to take art, he insisted that Itachi, who was so tone-deaf it wasn't funny, take music. And, since Kisame was his best friend, Itachi obliged him and dragged the other two with him.

The music teacher decided to risk giving Itachi a flute today.

"Okay. Now press this button and blow gently."

A horrible screeching noise came out of the flute. Everyone winced. Kisame, who had already played everything perfectly the first time though, smirked at him, earning a glare in return. Sasori had been kicked out for taking the saxophone apart, even after he insisted that he could make a better one.

The teacher, after rescuing the flute from its tormentor, turned to Deidara. "Lets hear you play it."

Deidara enthusiastically began playing the drums. He was actually pretty good, except for one problem.

"Deidara, you're playing the wrong song."

* * *

The police station looked the same it always had, Itachi mused as he walked in with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He headed straight to his father's office, knowing how much he hated being kept waiting.

Ahead of him, Tsunade turned the corner. Her eyes met his for a split second before she wordlessly. It was enough. Itachi knew whose side she on.

Around them, police officers were staring in shock. Tsunade had passed an Uchiha and _hadn't _insulted him! It was unheard of! She already dubbed Sasuke "Uchiha-brat" and Fugaku "Uchiha-bastard who pulled me out of retirement", Uchiha-bastard for short.

Itachi waited until the door was shut, blocking him from his father's view, before he sighed. He was to help Tsunade. 'Joy.' He thought. 'She may not insult me, but that's only because if she used her nickname for me people would be suspicious.'

His brother interrupted his musing.

"Itachi, you dropped your pen." Sasuke held out the sparkling golden pen Itachi carried with him everywhere.

The older boy's eyes widened when he realised how close he'd come to losing it. He snatched the pen out of Sasuke's hand and quickly tucked it safely away in his shirt. Thanking his brother, he continued on his way, taking the pen out and examining it for scratches. Upon finding none, he sighed. The boss would kill him if lost the pen. He still remembered the day he'd gotten the pen.

_Flashback_

Six-year old Itachi weaved his way through the bustling street, amazingly agile for his age, as he made his way home from school. That is, until he noticed it. A small flash of something shiny, half-hidden by the passer-bys, but he saw it. Being young and not particularly shy, Itachi walked up to the table and picked up the shiny. Right out the owner's hand. He then proceeded to amuse himself, clicking the pen in and out, in and out and admiring the general shininess of it.

It took the man on the bench a couple of seconds to realise that the pen was no longer in his hands. He looked at the six-year-old fiddling with it and blinked, trying to decide whether to let the boy play or take it back.

Itachi glanced up at the man when he turned, and his head kept going up. This man was tall! And was dressed entirely in white, so when the sun hit him it blinded everyone in a five mile radius. Itachi's eyes widened. It was a walking, talking shiny!

"How did you get in here, anyway?" The man/shiny asked, since the restaurant had a long line to enter it and a strong fence that enclosed it that he doubted even a child could squeeze through.

Itachi blinked at him. "Through the fence." As if it was the most obvious thing the world.

The man blinked again. The boy was obviously lying, since it was physically impossible to go through the fence. Unless…

He bent down to him on eye level with the boy. "Are you one of _them_?"

Itachi stopped playing with the pen and stared at the man. His eyes narrowed and seemed to be challenging the man, whose gaze turned thoughtful. Itachi continued watching warily as the man paid for his meal and left. It was only after he was gone that Itachi realised he still had the pen.

_End Flashback_

Sasuke had never understood why the pen was so important to his brother, but ever since he was young one of the unspoken rules of the house was that you Did Not Touch the Pen.

He was deep in thought when he reached his office, only snapping out when he spotted the newspaper clippings on his desk. Sitting down, he flipped through them, noting the note pinned on various articles and facts highlighted and explained.

She was good. Nobody in the police force put much stock in newspaper articles, because it was so hard to separate fact from fiction. Tsunade had managed to take the articles and somehow pinpoint and isolate the facts, uncovering several clues that had been overlooked before. Some of the papers were from before he was born.

Anyway, he now had enough evidence to question him. He'd have to thank Tsunade later.

_Flashback_

Sasuke hid behind a tree as Naruto walked by. The blond had yet to notice him, the police captain had taken every precaution to make sure of this.

When Naruto turned the corner, Sasuke followed as close as he dared, but when the prankster came back into view he was running at top speed down the alley. As Sasuke cursed and gave chase, it became very apparent exactly why Naruto was captain of the track team.

'There's no way I can catch him.' Sasuke thought as the blond picked up speed. Even though Sasuke was definitely not out of shape, he was losing ground fast, and when he turned another corner Naruto was nowhere in sight.

_End Flashback_

Sasuke ran his hand through his hair. He should have known the track team champion would bolt. But how had he known Sasuke was there? He glanced down at the blond's school records.

Average grades, orphan, no known location, track champion four years running, captain of the middle school track team (which were the district champion all three year he was there). Nothing too suspicious, besides the absence of an address. He made a mental note to look into that, since it pointed to the suspicion forming in Sasuke's head.

He stifled a groan as another stack of papers was put on his desk; they were lists of companies that had been attacked that day.

"Don't hackers ever have holidays?"

* * *

"If this doesn't keep them busy, I don't know what will." Kisame declared that night.

Sasori flipped through some papers. "If your plan was to attack random companies for no reason other than to annoy the police you did an excellent job." He held up one of the papers. "Look, we have the recipe for a Big Mac now."

"Guess who picked that one out."

Everyone turned to one of the members, who smiled sheepishly.

"I love Big Macs."

* * *

The hackers were assembled at the long meeting table, relaxing after a hard day's work and eating pizza (courtesy of the boss). Or at least, most of them were relaxing. Anko was frantically trying to finish her homework. Neji had taken Hinata home (mostly because his older brother's instincts had been activated after another hacker had gotten a bit too easy around her) Deidara had mysteriously disappeared.

Itachi was finishing up a report to the boss when one of the TV's hooked up to the police caught a chair flying by on tape. The hackers stared, especially when a lamp joined the chair. This was closely followed by the esteemed police chief, Uchiha Fugaku himself, bolting from the room to escape a flying desk. Tsunade ran after him, waving a coffee table and shouting profanities.

"What do you think he said?" Anko wondered.

* * *

Sasuke was going to get to the bottom of this even if it killed him. When he followed Naruto this time, he made sure he couldn't be spotted. Even so, he picked up his pace as Naruto rounded the corner. As he'd expected, the blond was running. Sasuke wasn't about to be outdone again, though, and so he was wearing roller blades. Confident in his plan, Sasuke was therefore very frustrated when the blond escaped into a waiting silver car.

Just before the door closed, Sasuke got a glimpse of the driver. It was an older-looking man with long, unruly white hair and red line coming down from his eyes. Sasuke was sure he was the author of that book series his father was so fond of. He didn't know what it was about, as Itachi forbade him to even touch the orange books, claiming "he'd thank him later."

* * *

Sasuke was rather put out as he sat down at the dinner table that night. Fugaku and Mitoko were both at work, so the task of cooking fell on Itachi, since Sasuke tended to burn anything he tried to cook. He started looking through the paperwork that had accumulated throughout the day.

Itachi came out of the kitchen with two bowls of macaroni and cheese (just because he was better than Sasuke didn't make him all that good a cook). He sat down and absently glanced through the mail, finding a letter for him. From the address, he thought it better to wait until Sasuke was asleep to open it. It was only than that he noticed Sasuke's expression. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke's sour face met a lemon. "The hackers have started attacking a ton of companies seemingly at random. I mean, what would they want from MacDonald's?"

"A Big Mac recipe." Itachi muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"MacDonald's is a huge international company that's likely to be one of the richest?" Itachi shrugged.

"Maybe. And on top of that, I think someone I know, who's suppose to be an orphan, is living with a billionaire. But I have no proof."

"So go up and ask him."

Sasuke glared at him for the seemingly idiotic answer, before his expression turned thoughtful. It was so stupid it just might work.

* * *

Wrapping a jacket around him, Sasuke had decided to follow his brother's advice (no matter if his brother had been serious or not). When he arrived at the address on his map, he was faced with a wall of overgrown shrubs taller than him. Moving a branch aside to look into the grounds, his jaws dropped. 'I know the guy is rich but this is insane.'

On the other side of the shrub wall a huge garden with lush green grass covering the small part of the yard that wasn't full of the gardens of beautiful flowers, at least two sparkling pools were on the grounds hidden behind tall cherry trees and rose bushes, a pond (complete with waterfall) and a huge white mansion with ivy climbing up the sides and over onto the black roof. Everywhere he looked servants and gardeners tended the grass, watered the garden, or just made sure everything was as it should be.

"Now how am I supposed to sneak in?"

"Why not use the front door?" A new voice cut in.

"Because I have to _sneak_ in." Sasuke replied automatically. Then his brain caught up and he turned around to see one of the people he'd been looking for.

Minato was dressed in a blinding white tracksuit and looked like he'd been running. He had a water bottle in his hand that was almost empty, indicating he'd been at it for a while.

Sasuke was a bit taken back by this development, and so the first thing he blurted out wasn't the smartest. "Does Naruto live here?

Now it was Minato's turn to be taken back. He recovered quickly, though, and leaned toward Sasuke. His voice was lowered in a conspirator whisper. "Can you keep a secret?"

Not seeing any harm in it, Sasuke nodded.

"I'm actually the leader of a huge underground criminal organization that's trying to take over the world."

Sasuke stared at him, wondering if he was mocking him, completely insane or actually serious.

"Minato! Are you telling stories again?" Sasuke looked behind the glare of Minato's jumpsuit to see Naruto jogging up in an orange jumpsuit. "Hey, Sasuke."

Now that they were beside each other, the two blonds looked eerily similar. Naruto stopped beside the Uchiha casually.

"What did he tell you?" He asked, a worried expression on his face. "I wouldn't want you to leave thinking he's insane or something."

Sasuke could see how someone could come to that conclusion. "He was going on about his criminal organization that's trying to take over the world."

Naruto sighed. "At least he's not going on about the king thing."

Sasuke then made the mistake of asking about the king thing.

Naruto was thoughtful. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else. We try to keep his… eccentricities quiet." Sasuke was impressed. He hadn't thought the boy knew the word 'eccentricities'.

_Flashback_

Naruto was sitting quietly in the living room outside Arashi's meeting room. The CEO was currently negotiating an alliance with Suna-inc, and Naruto desperately that the man wouldn't screw this one up. The shouting he could hear through the thick doors wasn't helping. Well he couldn't do anything. He had more pressing concerns, anyway.

"Hey, mister." He tugged on the sleeve of one the security guards. The guard looked down on him.

"Want do you want, kid?"

"Can you help me with this." He held up his math homework.

The guard scowled at him. "I'm not a tutor, kid."

"No. But if you don't help me I'll tell Arashi that you wouldn't help me after I asked for help." Naruto smirked as the guard paled. Everybody knew how much the CEO doted on Naruto.

Just then, the Suna CEO stormed out of the meeting room. He was followed by a rather put out Arashi. Naruto was pretty sure that Suna and Konoha wouldn't be teaming up anytime soon.

When Minato came around to where Naruto was hidden behind some well-placed furniture his face was expressionless. Naruto watched him warily. He'd known the CEO long enough to know that a quiet Arashi was an angry Minato.

He waited until the visiting businessmen had left before he spoke. "How dare he talk to me like that! He should be executed for that." He turned to the security guards. "I want you to go chop off their heads!"

The older security guard was obviously used to these kinds of out bursts. He raised his hands placatingly. "Sir, you don't have the authority to do that."

The other guard, who was clearly new, spoke up then. "The only person who order someone's beheading is a king." He apparently thought he was being funny, but everyone, except Minato, glared at him.

Minato was delighted. "That it! I'll be king! How do you become king?"

_End Flashback_

"He's been trying to become king ever since." Naruto finished solemnly.

"I'm still here, you know." Minato pouted from behind them. Naruto ignored him.

"What are you doing all the way out here, anyway?" He asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious?" Minato wasn't going to be ignored that easily. "He had heard of my magnificence and came to learn from my bottomless well of knowledge."

"You wish." Naruto muttered. He turned back to Sasuke and waited expectantly.

Sasuke looked from one blond to the other and decided to stick with the truth.

"I was trying to see if Naruto lived here."

Minato blinked. "Oh right, you're getting backgrounds of all the students."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about that?"

"If I'm going to be king, I need an information network." The two boys sweat dropped. "But how did you trace Naruto to me? Are you going to be king too?" He eyed the police captain warily.

"No. I saw him in a picture in the newspaper."

Minato looked at Naruto. "I thought I told you to stay inside that day!"

"I was bored!"

Sasuke stood there as the two blond bickered. He wondered if he even wanted to know why Naruto was living there.

* * *

Sasuke didn't bother to announce his arrival when he returned home that night. His head was still reeling from what he had learned in the past few hours. Naruto had invited him to stay awhile and they explained why the fact Naruto was living with Minato had been kept secret.

His father was working at home tonight, so Sasuke tried not to make a sound as he crept to his room. Which was why he heard the quiet voices in his father's office. Being a curious boy, he turned and tiptoed to the door, pressing his ear against it in an effort to hear what was being said. He could barely make out the words.

"-not working fast enough. We need to catch them now." The voice was deep, with an air of someone used to getting his own way. Sasuke didn't recognize it.

"We're doing the best we can. These hackers are smart-"

"Too smart. It makes me nervous. What if _they're _involved? We haven't been able to find them all, what it they've banded together?"

"That's impossible. How would they track each other down and who would organize them? They're little better than animals now."

The strange voice was annoyed. "You of all people should know better than to underestimate them. Your son-"

"Is dormant and shows no sign of the change. Neither do your children. These ones are different. You know that."

"They were smart enough to escape, and they'll find each other. They can smell the contamination on each other. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must leave. I'm needed at home."

"Of course."

When the two men left the room, Sasuke was nowhere in sight.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 4- The King Thing? - ending program…

**We challenge you guys!**: We bet none of you can guess the huge plot twist we have planned. We're going to turn the story upside down, chew it up, spit it out, put it through a blender, bend into the shape of various complicated mathematical formulas and then give it to the chemistry teacher and tell him to have fun with it. So… anyone have any ideas what it is? We're not going tell you, but we'd like to hear what you think. Who knows? We might take some of your ideas…

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers 

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-? Age-? Program-?

Rooster-? Age-? Program-?

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-? Age-? Program-?

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Police 

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi

Let me know what you think! -


	5. Stupid Teachers and Annoying Therapists

Remember, Kazuma Arashi is now Namikaze Minato.

Written by: BasicallyAnIdiot

Edited by: RBMIfan

Warnings: AU, OOC moments (I'll try my best to keep those to a minimal), and no copying.

Disclaimer: This will go for the entire fic: I BasicallyAnIdiot do not own Naruto +company, merchandise, games, and anything else that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I am borrowing Naruto + company for the purpose of this story. Meaning: I am not doing anything illegal, so back off lawyers!

Now that's over we'll continue.

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 5- Stupid Teachers and Annoying Therapists - launching program…

Sasuke was deep in thought as he walked to his bedroom. Who was his father was talking to? What were they so afraid of? Who were 'they'? And why were they afraid of his brother? He sighed. Why did things always have to be so complicated?

Sasuke paused at the doorway of his room, noticing that the door to Itachi's room was open a crack, letting some light out. 'I wonder if nii-san knows?' he headed to his brother's room. Knocking softly before he entered.

Itachi had covered his collection of shinies (much to Sasuke's disappointment) with blankets. He needed his light on to finish his homework and Fugaku had insisted he cover them up before turning on his light. The teachers had called to ask about him coming to school blind. Stupid teachers and their annoying questions.

"Nii-san?"

Itachi didn't look up from his homework. "Yes?"

"Who was father talking to just now?"

"Hyuuga Hiashi. Why?"

Sasuke paused before asking his next question. "I overheard them talking just now… who are _they_?"

Itachi stopped writing, though he didn't look up. "Sasuke," He began in a dead serious tone, "never tell father that you overheard that. Never tell anyone you overheard that."

Sasuke was confused at his brother's reaction. "Why?"

"You're better off not knowing. At least not yet. But promise me you won't tell."

Sasuke hesitated. None of this made sense, he'd listened in on his father's conversations before when he wasn't supposed to, and Itachi had never said anything about it. Still… if his brother thought he shouldn't tell there must be a good reason. And the conversation had been so strange… "Alright. I promise." Itachi wasn't going to tell him what was going on. But there was something else he had to ask. "Nii-san… this Hyuuga Hiashi. He's scared of you. Why?" He had not doubt his brother knew.

Itachi did look up then, and Sasuke had never seen his eyes do dark. He said nothing, and went back to his homework, ignoring Sasuke. But that look was enough to cement Sasuke's determination to find out just what his family was hiding from him.

* * *

Mikoto noticed the unusual silence of the other three Uchiha at the breakfast table. She hid her frown- she knew, like she had known the minute Itachi had stopped breathing in the middle of the middle of the night when he was two and that Fugaku had lied to her about where he had taken her sons for three months just a week after Sasuke had been born, that the shadow hovering over them would lead to disaster. And she knew that there was nothing anybody could do to stop it.

* * *

Itachi's group was in the lab that chemistry class, doing a rather simple experiment. Itachi handed in their lab report, receiving the praise the teacher gushed at him indifferently. Deidara, Sasori and Kisame were in charge of cleaning up, however there was some confusion over who would be handling the knives. Deidara wanted to put them away, with Kisame arguing that nobody in their right mind would trust him with knives. Deidara shot back that Kisame shouldn't have a problem with it the. Sasori quickly got tired of this, plucked the knives from the table, and put them away himself. Calmly walking back to the table. Sasori picked up his pencil and began to work on some homework. Deidara and Kisame continued their bickering, oblivious to the fact that the knives in question were no longer there. They stopped when Sasori suddenly swore, dropping his pencil. The duo took one look at the hole burned into the middle of the pencil and the drop of crimson on the redhead's finger and flew into motion. Itachi, returning at last from the teacher's monologue, picked up the pencil gingerly and deposited it in the biohazard bin. Deidara announced a splitting headache, with far more drama than actually necessary, and Sasori had to lend him out. Meanwhile, Kisame was in charge of distracting the class.

"You'd think the teachers would know better than to leave concentrated acids lying around the lab," he commented loudly enough for everyone in the class to hear. This succeeded in causing a panic.

* * *

"Have we figured out how Sasori cut his finger yet?" The Leader's voice was on speakerphone.

"He probably cut himself on one of the knives he was putting away in the lab."

The leader was silent for a minute. "I thought we'd agreed not to let him handle any sharp objects."

"I'm still here, you know." Sasori spoke up sullenly from his position in the corner. Kisame had the grace to look sheepish.

The Leader sighed. "I'll cover it up, but I don't want any more accidents. We're walking a thin line here, and we can't afford any mistakes."

"It won't happen again," Sasori promised.

"See that it doesn't. Now did you all get the list of assignments?" There was an amazingly unified sound of agreement. "You guy have been practicing that haven't you?"

"...Maybe."

Sasori stood up then. "I have to go. Baa-san said if I miss anymore appointments she'd double them." Deidara gave him a sympathetic look.

"Oh right, is he giving you any trouble?"

"Not yet." Sasori's tone made it obvious he didn't expect that to last. "He's way to nosy, though."

When Sasori was gone, the Leader began going over the assignments, specifically the one given to two hackers in particular. "You should be able to get $50 000 each, and it'll serve as a warning to the police."

"Che, you just want to see mass chaos."

"...Maybe. But it's still a good plan. I'll provide the laptops, you attack on Friday."

"That's awfully simple for one of your plans," one of them started suspiciously. He glanced at his partner and they asked in unison. "What's the catch?"

"Wow, you guys are really in sync today. You'll be entering a police computer to discover the company you need to hack."

"And this is a catch... how?"

"It's a tracker computer."

"...Troublesome. One mistake and they'll find us."

"That's why you're using laptops," the Leader ignored the fight that had broken out between the two hackers over the male's insistence on using the word 'troublesome'. "This is a big project, and I don't want any mistakes." With that, the Leader hung up. Itachi turned to Chouji.

"While your partners are busy, you can get rid of a small computer mainframe."

Chouji nodded as he popped another chip into his mouth. "Sure... which one?"

"Ereo.inc. They're coming up with a new tracking device for the police." Itachi glared at the still quarrelling hackers. When they didn't seem to notice (which proved how little time they'd spent around Itachi) he sighed. "Shikamaru. Ino. Stop arguing and get to work."

Said hackers jumped and rushed to their computers, booting up their program.

" 'Shadow Valentine' One ready."

" 'Shadow Valentine' Two ready."

Meanwhile Chouji was finishing booting up his program. " 'Overload' set."

" 'Shadow Valentine' sent."

* * *

Sasori counted the tiles on the ceiling from the overstuffed chair he was sitting on, trying to ignore the man sitting across from him with a clipboard. If his grandmother hadn't begged him to he wouldn't even be here right now, but if it made her feel better he supposed he could handle it. Even if he could be doing more important things like keeping the police of their tail.

"So, Sasori. How are you feeling today?" Sasori held back a scowl. Genma was by far the most annoying therapist he'd ever had.

"Bored. You need to get a new ceiling. Counting the same tiles over and over again isn't good for my mental health." Sasori allowed himself a smirk at the disapproving look on Genma's face.

"How was school?"

Sasori rolled his eyes. "I decided around lunch to go psycho and team up with the local gang to hold the teachers hostage and demand ransom. The police showed in an hour or so when they realised what was going on. My trial's on Saturday and you're getting fired."

Genma blinked, then sighed. "I wish you'd take this seriously, Sasori. Your grandmother is truly worried about you."

Sasori gave him a black look. "And your point is...?"

"Just answer me truthfully, Sasori. Is that so hard?"

"Yes."

"I mean it Sasori." Genma's voice was getting angry now, and Sasori decided to stop messing with him for the moment. While annoying him was fun, Genma tended to be spiteful and it was best not to push it. Upon seeing this change, Genma smiled. He was back in control. "Now, how was school?"

"The same as it always is, what did you expect? Oh, and Deidara says hi." Genma frowned slightly at the name causing Sasori to try and hide his smile. Genma had met his friend when he was first assigned to Sasori a few months ago.

_Flashback_

The two teens were walking up the street to an ominous-looking office building. The redhead had a bored look on his face while his blond companion amused himself by trying to catch various bugs and even a mouse that scurried by.

"Ano, Sasori-danna." He sidled up to his friend, who was pretending not to know him. "Which therapist are we seeing this time?"

"Some Genma person. Wonder how long he'll last." The teens were attracting a lot of attention, mainly because Deidara dragged along his half-finished sculpture (which came to his waist and didn't look like he should be able to lift it).

"I still don't understand why Chiyo-baa-san keeps sending you here." Deidara's face showed confusion, something that didn't happen often, as the blond usually either understood completely or didn't care.

"Don't think to hard, you might hurt yourself. She thinks I've grown anti-social since my parents died." Both teens grew quiet at that, knowing the real reason for his sudden change in personality.

Upon reaching the building, Sasori and Deidara entered and headed over to the reception desk. The woman behind it looked up and smiled at the pair. "Ah, Sasori. You're back." She handed him a card. "Here's your therapist and room number. I hear this one is stubborn."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning." Sasori took a card and glanced at it boredly.

"You are Akatsuna no Sasori?" A new voice broke in. They turned to see a lazy looking man holding a clipboard. He pushed up his glasses and both boys agreed that looked pretty smart. He had yet to prove that this was actually the case.

Deidara took one look at the therapist and hissed. The man barely twitched. "I am Genma. I should tell you that I don't allow visitors during my sessions."

Sasori was quickly beginning to agree with Deidara's assessment of the man.

_End Flashback_

Genma ignore the comment and reached into the bag at his feet. "I was looking into some of your hobbies the other day and I found something very interesting."

That caught Sasori's attention. "What?"

The man held up two vials, one clear as water and the other a murky reddish-orange with black spots floating around.

'Oh no.' was the only thought going through Sasori's head. His voice was ominous when he next spoke. "You went through my stuff?"

Genma, surprised at the tone, nevertheless popped the cap off the clear vial and tipped a drop of it into the houseplant beside his chair.

Sasori's face was devoid of emotion as they watched the plant wither to a dark brown colour. Genma jotted something down on his clipboard, likely on the teen's reaction. He then opened the maroon vial and allowed a droplet to hit the poisoned plant. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the plant regained a healthy shade of green.

Silence filled the office. "Would you care to explain, Sasori, why I found forty-nine poisons potent enough to kill a healthy adult, some almost instantly. And why there was thirty-three designed to caused various incapacitating conditions such as sleep, paralysis, and a coma that will not kill them. And why there are only seventy antidotes for eighty-two poisons. And why none of these poisons have ever been made by another."

Cursing mentally, Sasori quickly came up with a decent excuse. "A friend and I were doing a school project proving that most household items can be turned into lethal weapons. The teacher didn't believe our theory and gave us permission to demonstrate. Those vials are the nearly finished product."

Genma's eyes narrowed, and Sasori prayed that he would buy the story. When the therapist dismissed him, Sasori knew that this was far from over.

For Genma's part, he was reminded of the day he'd been assigned to Sasori.

_Flashback_

Hayate was reading off the new assignments in the lounge. When he got to Genma's name, however, he paused. "Man, you got unlucky, Genma."

"Why, who do I have?" Genma opened one eye lazily from where he sat on the couch. The other therapists crowded around Hayate, whispering among themselves when they saw the paper.

"You've got _that kid._" One of them whispered. Genma sat up. He'd heard about _that kid. _The kid who made a dozen therapists quit within months of getting him. The kid who'd made Sayako, a therapist with the highest qualifications, have a nervous breakdown. Many therapists had made formal requests to not have him.

Genma scoffed. "He can't be that bad."

Those in the room who'd had Sasori just looked at him in pity.

_End Flashback _

Kakashi turned a page in his orange book, "giggling like a little school girl" according to Fugaku. They didn't get along. So absorbed was he in his book that he didn't notice the shadow creeping up on him until it was too late.

"My Eternal Rival! How is your youthfulness today?" The silver-haired man glanced briefly over his shoulder to one of his co-workers.

"Ne, Gai, did you say something?"

The hyperactive man fumed, cursing Kakashi and his hip self. "Actually, Kakashi, is the tracker system ready yet?"

Nose still buried in the book, Kakashi typed with his free hand, booting up the tracker system. "With this all we have to do is wait for the hackers to strike."

They didn't have to wait long, and within minutes a loud beeping came from the machine. "Someone's hacking into Ereo-com." Kakashi finally put Icha Icha away and typed some more.

"It's source is a... laptop belonging to Uchiha Fugaku."

The two officers looked at each other in confusion.

"Fugaku-sama would never do something like that!" Gai protested.

"Idiot. He was obviously set up. We'll have to report this to Sasuke. The hackers are up to something."

Had the two stayed instead of running off to find Sasuke they may have seen the red and black monkey, boar and rooster in the corner of the screen.

* * *

Uchiha Fugaku was filling out the paperwork for a murder case when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said absently and looked up to see Sasuke and two officers: Kakashi of the tracker division and Gai from fieldwork. "Can I help you?"

"We have reason to believe that the hackers used your laptop to attack Ereo-inc." Kakashi stated.

Fugaku raised an eyebrow. "Feel free to inspect it."

With the permission of the police commander thus acquired, Kakashi searched the black laptop's files. "There's nothing here that could be used. Looks like the Zodiac Viruses have struck again."

"Zodiac Viruses?" The commander asked amusedly.

"Well we can't keep calling them the hackers, and the case does need a name for when we finish this case." Sasuke explained, a little embarrassed. "It works, and it almost seems like they're trying to tell us something."

"Very well. Be sure to tell me if you discover their message." The older Uchiha went back to work, dismissing them silently.

Kakashi and Gai nodded and left. Sasuke, however, lingered behind. Fugaku looked up again. "Is there something you need?"

"I'm going to have dinner at a friend's tonight so I won't be home until later."

Fugaku regarded his son coolly for a moment. "I don't see a problem with that." Sasuke sighed and moved to leave. "But you know Itachi would never slack off on duty."

Sasuke winced slightly as he walked out the door.

* * *

He grabbed his coat and double-checked that everything was in order before leaving his office. Running a hand through messy raven-black hair, Sasuke paused as he noticed a commotion at the front office.

Curiosity perked, Sasuke headed in that direction. "What's going on?" He asked Kurenai.

"A kid, Gaara I think his name was, beat up Lee. The kid's in jail for the night and Lee's in the hospital."

Sasuke mulled this over. Gaara was on their suspect list, but they couldn't prove anything. "If you see Lee, tell him I send my regards."

He watched as Iruka brought the jade-eyed troublemaker in before leaving.

* * *

"What was the target computer you chose?" Neji took a sip of the glass of water he'd stolen from Kisame's stash.

"Che, we hit Fugaku's laptop."

Neji's eyes widened and he almost choked on his water. "That's an... interesting choice. Do you plan to tell Itachi?"

Shikamaru scoffed. "Sounds troubles-"

"Nara Shikamaru, if you finish that sentence you'll be learning a new meaning of the word pain!" Ino's eyes blazed with wrath, making the infamous chess champion wince slightly.

"Everybody shut up! Tsunade's throwing another fit!" Kisame's harsh voice echoed back from the front of the basement. The hackers all crowded around the monitors Sasori had hooked up a while ago.

Due to their chaotic schedules, the hackers rarely got any entertainment (besides, of course, enjoying the general chaos they inflict upon the police and government). As such, watching Tsunade unleash the full force of her rage on some poor, unsuspecting officer was one of the highlights of their job. When the boss had found out, he promised to get them a radio "lest you all lose touch with reality". They, naturally, had no idea what he was talking about.

"Who is the poor soul this time?" Hinata asked Kisame.

"Asuma."

"Ouch." Another member commented.

"That's one way to put it." Kisame chuckled.

A wince flittered through the group as a brand new lamp was thrown at Asuma. That was still plugged in. The man was lucky to only be knocked out.

"Aww, that was way too fast." Kisame complained. "He didn't put up much of a fight at all."

"I know he marked our tests too hard," Chouji commented between mouthfuls of chips, "but nobody deserves that."

The younger hackers made sounds of agreement while the older ones just scoffed.

* * *

Sasuke stood in front of the mansion, trying to decide if it was worth his sanity to have dinner there. He wondered how it would affect his job if he went insane. Would his father notice? Would he be fired? Would Itachi have to take his place? That thought alone might have made him turn around and leave if the door hadn't chosen that moment to open. A maid stepped out and bowed politely.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke? Minato-sama has been expecting you. Please follow me."

Sasuke blinked before following the maid into the entrance hallway. He looked around for the first time as he went through, noting how well the colours went with each other. Full-scale statues of Shinto deities lined the walls as far as the eye could see. He'd never taken Minato for a religious person, and those statues looked like they cost a fortune. They were made up almost entirely of precious materials.

The maid had come to a halt in front of two huge doors. "I will tell him you've arrived." She informed him before disappearing through the doors.

Sasuke nodded absently and looked back at the statues curiously. He headed toward an exceptionally elaborate one next to the big doors. Upon closer inspection, the raven-haired boy discovered it was made of pure onyx. The deity had a stern face and a good build, with a lightly carved design of a dragon on his gi. The statue, indeed like all the statues, was so lifelike that he almost expected them to start moving.

"That's Tsuki Yomi, the moon god, if you're wondering."

The Uchiha jumped and whipped around at the sudden voice in his ear, coming face to face with Naruto, who was grinning cheerfully.

"Personally, I like Amaterasu better." He pointed to the statue directly across from them. "Hey, Sasuke. How do you plan to catch criminals if you didn't ever notice me?"

"Admiring my statues, I see. Take a good look; there aren't any others like them in the entire world." Minato was leaning against the wall behind him like he had been there the entire time. Which was, given the circumstances, quite possible.

Sasuke sighed and reminded himself that he'd come here for a reason. "Namikaze-san, you said you had something important to tell me?"

The older blond immediately got a depressed look on his face and started to mumble something about getting old under his breath.

Sasuke was surprised. "What did I say?"

"He doesn't like to be called 'Namikaze-san' because not only does it make him sound old, it's far too formal to be healthy." Naruto shrugged, and Sasuke thought that sounded far too smart for the blond to have come up with on his own.

Sasuke stored the information away for later, then rephrased his question. "Minato, you said that you had to tell me something."

The CEO instantly recovered and put on his usual cocky smile. "Actually, no, but my brilliant intuition tells me you've been eating kraft dinner made by your brother for the past week and a half. On top of having to manage school and a full-time job, it's obvious you need the unmatched benefits of my household."

"We want you to stay for supper." Naruto translated.

* * *

The kitchen the duo had led him to was surprising small and completely deserted. The table was a tiny, fold-up and had three disposable plates on it. Not the sort of eating environment you'd expect of a billionaire.

Naruto flipped on the radio on the counter, and Minato headed to the refrigerator. Sasuke stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. When Arashi turned back to him.

"Well, are you going to help or not? I hope you can handle a knife, because you'll be helping Naruto cut up the vegetables." Sasuke sweatdropped as he looked over to where Naruto was glaring at a bowl of broccoli. When Minato told a guest to "make yourself at home", he meant it.

So it was that Sasuke found himself chopping green peppers, wearing an apron (Minato thought it'd be funny), and listening to the blonds drown out the radio with an argument over what seasoning to put in the fried rice. It was a scene that would completely alien at his house but was somehow totally normal here. Sasuke actually found himself feeling a little jealous, but shook it off.

* * *

"That was great!" Naruto declared when they were finished. "I told you my seasoning would taste better."

Minato scowled and caught Naruto in a headlock. "Don't be ridiculous. I switched the seasoning when you weren't looking."

"Suure."

Switching moods, Minato took out a deck of cards. "I hope you know how to play 'rich man, poor man'; because I'm not explaining the rules." He informed Sasuke briskly, shuffling the deck.

"I'm dealer!" Naruto shouted, grabbing the deck from the CEO's hands. Sasuke rubbed his ear, deciding that not only was his sanity at risk here, his hearing was as well.

Within minutes, Sasuke's companions got into yet another argument. Sasuke was a bit worried about the fact he could actually understand some of it.

Looking at his cards, the police captain thought about his new friends. Minato wasn't anything like the business legends made him out to be. Actually, he seemed kind of clueless. As he watched the man try to argue that putting down a three meant you had to pick up three cards, completely ignoring the rulebook Naruto was shoving in his face, he didn't seem at all cunning enough to devise the devious plots he was supposedly guilty of.

"So, how goes the mission to bring down the fiendish computer geniuses that have made life so difficult for honest, hardworking business people like me who have only the best interests of the public in mind?"

Sasuke blinked. There were so many things wrong with that question he didn't know where to begin. How did he know about- oh right. His information network.

"And I'm sure those crime bosses you worked with a few years ago also had the best interests of the public in mind." He commented sarcastically, not really thinking

The blond looked at him. "You believe those charges?"

"Yes." His father had investigated the case himself, so there was little chance of a mistake. Uchiha Fugaku was very good at what he did.

When he spoke next, Minato's tone was amazed. "I didn't know you were stupid."

Naruto's eye twitched. "You have no right to call anyone stupid."

Minato ignored him and laughed at the confused expression on Sasuke's face. "It was physically impossible. I had no access whatsoever to the prisoners, even if I had allies in the underground."

"Then why did my father, after looking at the evidence, conclude that you did? And why didn't anyone else working in the area speak up in your defence?"

"Because they had ulterior motives. And, don't give me that look, almost everyone has ulterior motives. The police aren't the epitome of justice they're suppose to be," he shrugged. "They probably had something to hide, and I was a convenient scapegoat."

That reply just made Sasuke more confused. Normally he'd have immediately defended his father, but the conversation from last night flashed in his mind and stopped the words before they had formed. The uncomfortable silence was broken by a cell phone ringing.

Minato slid it out of his pocket, flipped it open, and listened for a minute. Then, shooting an apologetic look at Naruto, he stood up and left the room.

Naruto sighed and picked up the cards the other blond had dropped. "Sometimes I hate that cell phone. It always goes off in the middle of something, and then he'll be gone for the rest of day."

Sasuke could empathise with that. It was the same way with his father, the few times he was home. That thought reminded Sasuke of a question he'd meant to ask Naruto.

"Minato's like a father to you, isn't he?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. And he's almost the best father ever!"

"Almost?" Minato's voice came from the next room. Apparently he wasn't out of earshot.

Naruto's eyes grew shifty. "Pass the dishcloth, please."

* * *

Sasori showed up at the base gasping for breath, soaked from head to toe and deathly pale. Anko immediately sprung from her position on a couch to drag him into the room. "Sasori! What were you thinking, going on in this rain? You'll get sick again!"

Sasori waved her away as he sat down. "Lecture me later, Anko. This is important. I need to call the boss, something's come up."

As if on cue, Deidara rushed in with a phone and a blanket. He dropped both on the redhead and announced that what Sasori needed right now was Anko's hot chocolate and then looked pleadingly at her. Anko glared at him, knowing full well that the blond wanted the hot chocolate more than Sasori did, but got up to make it. After all, Deidara wasn't the only one with a sweet tooth.

Sasori, meanwhile, was dialling the appropriate (and top secret) number on the phone.

"Are you alone?" He asked as soon as he heard his boss's lazy greeting.

There was a pause. "I am now. What do you want this time?"

"It's Sasori-"

"I know that." He must have been the middle of something as he normally wasn't that irritable. Sasori ignored the comment.

"Something's come up. You know my therapist?"

"The annoying one?"

"That's him."

"What did he do?" There was a commotion as the boss yelled at someone on his end.

"He went through my stuff and found my poisons. I came up with a story, but I don't think he believed it. He's going to be trouble."

"I never liked him. His name's Genma, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Figures. He's got connections to the police. We'll have to take care of him."

"That's what I thought. Do you have something in mind?"

"Doesn't Orochimaru have a little group of assassins? I think they'd do. Tell Deidara to get in touch with them and tell them to avoid killing him."

"Yes, sir." Sasori moved to hang up the phone.

"Oh, and Sasori?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't tell Naruto about this."

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 5-Stupid Teachers and Annoying Therapists - ending program…

A.N: Well, the last time I posted the 'challenge' I only got one theory. Now my editor and I have been thinking about making bloopers just for those who answer the 'challenge'.

**We challenge you guys!**: We bet none of you can guess the huge plot twist we have planned. We're going to turn the story upside down, chew it up, spit it out, put it through a blender, bend into the shape of various complicated mathematical formulas and then give it to the chemistry teacher and tell him to have fun with it. So… anyone have any ideas what it is? We're not going tell you, but we'd like to hear what you think. Who knows? We might take some of your ideas…

And I made a mistake on Hinata's age: It should be 14.

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers 

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Police 

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi

Let me know what you think! -


	6. Of Police and Crossdressers

Remember, Kazuma Arashi is now Namikaze Minato.

This is a somewhat serious chapter, but necessary. You have been warned.

RBMIfan: Hopefully the length of the chapter partially makes up for the wait. We actually finished the chapter a long time ago, but _someone _never got around to typing it up.

BasicallyAnIdiot: What! You're making it sound like it's my fault! I had stuff to do, new Pokemon games to beat, people to bug!

Written by: BasicallyAnIdiot

Edited by: RBMIfan

Warnings: AU, OOC moments (I'll try my best to keep those to a minimal), and no copying.

Disclaimer: This will go for the entire fic: I BasicallyAnIdiot do not own Naruto +company, merchandise, games, and anything else that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I am borrowing Naruto + company for the purpose of this story. Meaning: I am not doing anything illegal, so back off lawyers!

RBMIfan: We don't own Super Smash Bros., either.

BasicallyAnIdiot: But we're working on it.

Now that's over we'll continue.

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 6- Of Police and Crossdressers - launching program…

Neji had to fight to keep the disgust off his face as he walked down the hallway joining to the Main Branch of Hyuuga Compound. It wasn't just because they were spoiled, self-centered brats, though most of them were. That, Neji could have tolerated. No, it was what their leaders had had the arrogance to do to their own children ­to him- all in the name of science. It was all enough to make Neji hate science.

It was enough to make him hate his uncle even more, and that worried him a little. Hiashi wasn't stupid. ­He'd notice his nephew's animosity sooner or later, and probably already had. If he started suspecting that it was more than just the hatred of the branch for the main, ­if he started suspecting that Neji knew, their cover might be blown. Deep in his thoughts, Neji didn't notice the approaching figure until he ran into it.

"Watch where you're going, Branch Member!" That didn't help matters. Neji prided himself on his control, but he couldn't stop a hint of annoyance from his voice.

"My apologies. I didn't see you, Hanabi." He bowed politely and turned away.

"What's got you so mad?" He should have known Hanabi didn't know when to let things be.

"It's none of your concern." Why did it have to be Hanabi that bumped into him? The girl was far too curious for her own good.

"Why do you hate Father so much?" And far too perceptive. Neji sighed.

"You're too young to understand." He started to walk away.

Hanabi narrowed her eyes. "I'm not stupid. You can't patronize me like Father does. You want to hurt him, don't you?"

Neji stopped mid-stride. "If I have to." He knew he shouldn't have said that. If Hanabi told…

"Don't let anyone else hear you say that." Hanabi's voice was low. Neji almost fainted from relief. Hanabi wouldn't tell. He wondered if she suspected…

"Don't worry. I'm not stupid, either."

Hanabi watched his back as he disappeared around the corner. She always wondered why her cousin seemed to hate her father so much more than all the other branch members, but never enough to find out. Now she thought it might be interesting.

She didn't notice a shadow as it moved from where it had been watching.

* * *

"Tsunade, why were you so angry at Fugaku earlier." Itachi tossed a book at his partner as he shifted though papers, highlighting important facts ­evidence against the hackers. The prodigy wasn't sure where the blond got all her information, but she managed to track down the facts about Anko they had long since destroyed. Tsunade found out about the fact Anko was raised then abandoned by a huge crime lord, unfortunately it was too big to 'overlook'.

Tsunade looked up at him as she caught the book. It always struck her as odd that Itachi never called Fugaku 'father'. Considering what the man had done to him, she didn't blame him, but still...

"I assume I don't want to know how you know that." She flipped a lock of hair behind her shoulder. "Due to all the attacks and our seeming ineffectiveness, the police have been buying off the newspaper." She stirred her coffee before taking a sip, leaning against the far wall. "That's why the hackers aren't front page news. And guess where this money is coming from? My paycheck!" She slammed the cup down on her desk, spilling hot droplets over her hand. She hissed and stuck it in her mouth. "Did you get the letter I sent you?"

Itachi nodded. "But that could be a problem."

"I sent it to you because you needed to know. Have you told the others yet?"

"At tonight's meeting." Itachi pulled out a stick of pocky. "They'll know soon enough, don't worry." He narrowed his eyes. "We won't let them start it again. Not this time."

* * *

Deidara finished buttoning up the brown business suit he kept hidden in a secret compartment in his room. He slipped on a pair of sunglasses, let his hair out of the high ponytail he constantly wore, and checked his appearance in the full-length mirror. Staring back at him was a pretty young businesswoman. A flick of his hair, lying somewhere in the middle of his back, there and the widening of the eyes there… and the woman staring back at him assumed a warm, transparent look. Deidara allowed himself a smile, checking it so it matched his new persona in friendliness. He never understood why other people found acting so hard; the steps needed were so obvious.

He checked the briefcase to be sure everything was in place before snapping it shut and scooping it up. He did a brief scan of the adjacent room, then walked briskly out of the bathroom in Sasori's restaurant.

It was only a ten-minute walk to his destination, a nice coincidence, as he was one of their main contacts. Some of the others lived hours away, and it was a hassle going back and forth. Nobody gave him a second look. ­Even if the city wasn't too big to notice a stranger, he made this trip often enough that he was known here. Walking up to a large office building, Deidara inserted a card, waited until the light turned green, then pulled it out and entered. The receptionist looked up and nodded to him as he passed, on his way to the elevator.

Once inside the elevator, he started rapidly pushing buttons in a specific order. The elevator shuddered and began to move downwards, thought there wasn't supposed to be a basement in this building. The next time the door opened, it was to a darkened hallway that Deidara quickly set off down.

Less than a minute down the hallway, two figures detached themselves from the wall, one on either side of him. Deidara gave no sig that he noticed.

"The usual shipment?" one inquired casually as he kept pace with the blond.

"And a mission, un." The deep voice was disconcerting coming from the deceptively feminine form. The other figure flicked his eyes at him in interest.

"He hasn't accepted yet." This one's voice was slightly deeper, yet similar to his companion's.

"He will approve," Deidara assured him. Neither replied.

They finally came to a door, and his escorts slowed down to allow him to through first. Four of the occupants looked up at his entrance. Behind him, one of the escorts spoke, while the other disappeared through another door.

"The shipment first."

"Of course, un." He placed the briefcase on the nearby table and opened it, revealing dozens of flat, black shapes. "Forty of them. My most compact yet, untraceable and undetectable, un."

"Strong?" one of the four asked impassively.

"Four of them could level this building, un." They seemed content at that, and the one who'd spoken closed the case and left with it.

"I hear your leader has a job for me." A new voice hissed from the doorway the escort had vanished into.

"Yes. It's simple enough, un, but it needs to be kept quiet…"

* * *

Genma rubbed the back of his neck as he worked through all of Sasori's paperwork. He hadn't believed the boy's story on the poisons for a second; but something like this didn't happen overnight. There had to be some hint, some reference to something like this, or anything out of the ordinary.

He sighed and glanced at the clock. Time to call it a night. He scooped up the file to put them away, swearing when half of them slipped and fell to the floor. He put the remaining files back on the desk and bent to pick the fallen ones up, pausing when he spotted a yellow sheet. Ignoring the other files for a moment, he picked up the odd sheet and examined it. It was from the redhead's first therapist. Genma had been focusing on more recent files, since it was unlikely that a four-year old would be dabbling in illegal substances. Nevertheless, he skimmed the page. Then read it more carefully, his eyes widening.

Folding the sheet and secreting it in his coat, Genma started rummaging around his desk for the phone. Shoving a stack of paper aside, he finally found it. Dialling the number with shaky hands, he waited impatiently for the other line to pick up.

"Police Help Department, how many I help you?"

Genma blinked at the voice. "Asuma… why are you working the phones?"

The man sighed. "Budget cuts, it's a long story. Why are you calling anyway?"

"I need to speak with Fugaku. I've found something, something that might shed light on the Zodiac Viruses."

"In that case, shouldn't you talk to Sasuke? He's in charge of that case."

Genma shook his head, though Asuma couldn't see it. "No, it has to be Fugaku. It… involves a past project of his. Please-" He was cut off when a hand snaked out from the shadows and jabbed him in the neck. He was out before he hit the ground, phone clattering to the floor beside him.

"Genma? Genma, you still there? Genma!"

* * *

It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was up, Sasuke mused. He'd been checking a file with another officer when Asuma had gotten the call. Which was odd to begin with; since Genma wasn't suppose to contact them unless it was an emergency. That he'd insisted on speaking with Fugaku was also strange. Genma had worked with Sasuke's father before, over a decade ago, and Fugaku had been a police officer long enough to have done several top-secret missions, but Sasuke was in charge of the case. He couldn't solve it if he wasn't allowed to have all the information.

It mattered very little now. When Genma's line had gone suddenly dead, they'd sent officers to check up on him. They found him sprawled on the floor, only a weak pulse proving he was alive. He was in a military hospital now, and still hadn't woken up. The doctors suspected he was in coma. A search for anything that might reveal what he'd discovered found that every file in the building had disappeared. Which proved he uncovered something important- important enough for the hackers to go out of their way to keep him quiet.

"Sasuke." He glanced up as Sakura walked in with a report in her hands. "Itachi said to tell you that he won't be home tonight, and your parents are working late, so you're on your own for supper."

"Thank you Sakura." He leaned back in his chair. He didn't relish the idea of having to cook, but the alternative was to find someone else to cook… of course! Picking up the phone, he dialed the number a certain blonde had given him earlier.

"Hello, Konoha inc. Namikaze's office. How may I help you?" It was a little unsettling to hear Naruto's voice acting so… professional. Especially as Sasuke had always gotten the impression that he hated formality.

"Naruto? What are you doing answering the phones."

There was a pause, and Sasuke heard the blond call a question to someone in the background before answering. "Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

Naruto laughed. "I told Minato you'd call. He owes me five bucks now!"

Sasuke blinked, and decided he was better off not asking. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Oh yeah! I'm working part-time at Konoha inc. to pay for my room and board. I think Minato made me his secretary out of spite from that squirrel I put in his bed though."

Sasuke wondered how the blond had managed to keep a job keeping track of everything going on in the office of one of the biggest companies in Asia. He said as much.

"Yeah, well. I learn fast. So why are you calling? Are you taking us up on our offer?"

"Why else would I call?"

"Good point. I'll tell Minato you're coming. Remember to be there by 6:30 or you get nothing."

Sasuke smirked. The time given was when the blondes started to prepare supper, and if you didn't help you didn't eat. "What are you having?"

"Roast chicken, rice and carrots." Minato chimed in then.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up and join us." Naruto commented.

"Who says I was sleeping?"

"I could hear you snoring from here."

"You shouldn't talk badly about your boss in front of others Naruto. Besides, I was up late last night." Sasuke could hear the pout in his voice.

Sasuke coughed, deciding to break up a potential fight. "How long have you been listening, Minato?"

"Since you said you'd be over for supper." There was a shuffling sound. "Hey, this schedule says I have a lunch date with the Suna CEO tomorrow. Naruto! I never agreed to this!"

Naruto sighed. "If you don't apologize to Suna soon, Kiri could steal their business."

"I don't care, I'm not apologizing! He started it!"

"You two argue like two year old kids. It doesn't matter who started it." Naruto's voice took a sly undertone. "Or if you don't want to, I suppose I could just show everyone this lovely picture of that red-eyed girl you like so much."

"That's dirty Naruto."

"What are you going to do about it?" Naruto's tone was mocking. There was a click as somebody hung up. When Naruto gulped from his end, Sasuke figured it was Minato. There was the sound of a door opening before Naruto hastily said goodbye and hung up.

Sasuke sighed and wondered how wise it was to continue hanging out with those two. Right now Minato was probably chasing Naruto around the office, the other workers ignoring them or absently moving their work out of the way. He'd seen it happen.

* * *

Itachi marked in another box on the questionnaire their boss was forcing them to fill out (he was obsessed with the things). Only a few of the hackers were actually there right now. ­Deidara was working in the restaurant above and bouncing down on his breaks, Shikamaru and Chouji were finishing some school project and Kisame was hooking up a TV so he could watch an orchestra that was playing.

He glanced up when the door opened. Deidara wasn't on break for another half hour and no other hackers had said they were coming today. Seeing who it was, though, he relaxed. Gaara never gave advance warning whenever he decided to actually show up.

"Where have you been?" Itachi inquired as the redhead sat down at one of the computers. The boy sported bruises on both hands (forgot his gloves again, probably) and a rather nasty cut on his left eye. He'd obviously been in a fight again.

"Busy." Gaara replied shortly. He was in one of his moods again, and Itachi sighed as he realized that the only member able to break him out of it without bloodshed was elsewhere. Well, perhaps causing some trouble would cheer him up. Itachi tossed him a file.

"Those companies need their computers shut down," he told the hacker. "Permanently." Gaara just nodded before opening the file.

* * *

Chiyo stirred the chicken soup and was just about to taste it again when the doorbell rang. She paused, placed the stirrer aside, and moved to answer the door. She opened it and blinked, figuring she should have expected this to happen.

Standing in the doorway, holding a sleeping bag and a suitcase was Anko, grinning impishly. "Chiyo! I haven't seen you in, like, two days!"

"Anko." Chiyo nodded, "What are you doing here?" Though she already knew the answer.

The teen's grin turned sheepish. "Ah, well, you see, Ibiki kicked me out of his place for the weekend. Something about him wanting his poker buddies over without me winning all the time. So I thought I'd come over and keep Sasori company."

Chiyo nodded and let her in. Anko was glancing up the stairs nervously as she took off her coat. "Um… Chiyo. How is he?"

The old lady paused in grabbing some crackers. She looked up the stairs worriedly. "Bad. I haven't seen him like this since…"

There was no need to continue. "Can I see him?" Anko's grin was gone now.

Chiyo nodded, not seeing any harm, before grabbing the crackers and laying them out.

Anko walked quietly up the stairs to Sasori's room, bending to place her things on the floor just inside the door. The room was dark, but she made no move to turn on the lights. Sasori's bed was in the corner, and the only other furniture was a desk beside the door. The closet was directly across from the window, and had numerous secret compartments that only she and Sasori knew about. Anko crept quietly around the puppet pieces strewn across the floor.

"Sasori?" She whispered, her hand ghosting over his forehead. She didn't even have to touch it to feel the heat radiating from his body. She sighed. She already knew where she was sleeping that tonight.

She stood up and walked to the hallway, poking her head downstairs. "Chiyo! I'm borrowing your bed!" There was a crash, and Chiyo was up the stairs in an instant.

"No."

"But-"

"No."

Anko opened her mouth for a second, then turned and blurred down the hall, skidding to a stop and turning into Chiyo's room. She was halfway back down the hall, dragging Chiyo's futon behind her, before Chiyo realized what was happening and ran to stop her. She grabbed the other side of the futon and started pulling it back.

"You have a sleeping bag!"

"But I wanna sleep in the futon! You can have the sleeping bag."

"It's my bed. I'm sleeping in it."

"But-" Anko was cut off by a small cough from Sasori's room. The two females froze and turned to the cough. The redhead's eyes fluttered briefly before closing again.

The pair looked at each other and, in an unspoken truce, dropped the futon and headed downstairs.

"He should be in the hospital," Chiyo muttered quietly. Anko whipped around to face her, eyes filled with horror.

"Chiyo, please-"

"I know. I wish you would tell me why it's so important he doesn't go the hospital. I wish you would tell me what happened those months he disappeared."

"You know we would if we could," Anko told her sadly. Chiyo just shook her head.

"It's why he gets so sick, isn't it? He never got that sick before. They say he ran away, after his parents died. But that doesn't explain why he came back… different." Chiyo turned away and started toward the bathroom. "I need to get his cough medicine ready, so you can bring him his soup."

Anko nodded and grabbed the tray, heading back up to her boyfriend's room. Her normal grin was gone now, replaced by a grim expression. Even with his weak immune system, Sasori hadn't been this sick since the incident. She put the tray on the nightstand and watched him. She didn't know why Sasori had reacted so negatively to what had happened. None of the others had become so sickly, not even her, who was most like him. It wasn't fair, she thought helplessly, none of this was fair.

She shook her head. This wasn't the time for self-pity. "Sasori?" She prompted softly. The response was a small grunt from the bed. Anko smiled. ­He was conscious. She perched herself on the bed and got a spoonful of soup. "You're going to have to sit up, Sasori."

Sasori cracked his eyes open and blinked up at her before shifting in the bed, trying to sit up. Anko sighed and returned the spoon to the bowl before moving to help him.

She picked up some pillows from the closet and put them against the headboard, bringing one arm around to lift Sasori into a sitting position. He mumbled a thank you, leaning against the pillows. Anko picked up the spoon again and brought it to his mouth. "Say 'ah'." She ordered, grinning at the glare he levelled at her.

"I can feed myself," he stated flatly though the effect was ruined when he started coughing. Anko raised an eyebrow.

"You can barely sit up. Besides, you look cute when you're pouting." His eyebrow twitched, but he didn't turn away when she pushed the spoon into his mouth.

She waited until he was done eating and was lying down again before she started scolding him.

"Honestly, Sasori, you should know better than to run in the rain. You know your immune system can't handle it. If you'd called us we'd have picked you up and then you wouldn't be here, sicker than you've been for years." She stopped, realizing that he'd fallen asleep again. Her anger was gone as quickly as it had come, and she brushed Sasori's bangs out of his eyes, staring at his pale face. "You can't die, Sasori," she whispered, suddenly fighting the urge to cry. "You're all I have left."

Moving the tray aside, Anko moved from her sitting position and curled up next to him. She lay there several minutes before finally falling asleep. Sasori opened his eyes some time after that, absently pulling the blanket over her before drifting off again.

Chiyo paused at the door, smiling despite herself at the scene. She quickly pulled out the camera she always carried on her and started taking pictures. She'd have to show them to Ibiki later, she though gleefully. Collecting blackmail always put her in a good mood.

* * *

Leaving his report on his desk, Sasuke grabbed his jacket and headed toward the front door. He thought he'd never get out of there after than new report had come up. The Uchiha slipped his jacket on as he walked out the front of the building. And stopped in surprise. Leaning against a car in the middle of the parking lot, waving at Sasuke, was Naruto.

"Sasuke! You're late!"

Sasuke shook his head, telling himself he knew better than to be surprised at anything the blond did. "I was held up. What are you doing here?"

Naruto gave him a strange look. "To pick you up, of course."

"You know what time I get off? Oh, right. The information network." The smirk the blond gave confirmed it.

"Yeah." He paused, then looked around. "Except...I ran here. And I doubt you could keep up with me if we ran back. So we need to get a ride."

Sasuke bit back a scathing reply as he grudgingly admitted to himself that he _wouldn't_ be able to keep up. He'd seen Naruto run clear across town without stopping or breaking a sweat. Literally, he and Minato had been following in a car to keep track of his progress. Or rather, Minato had followed and dragged Sasuke along for the ride.

"I guess we could walk..." Sasuke started to suggest, when Naruto cocked his head as if listening to something.

"Someone's coming." Sasuke wondered how he knew. He hadn't heard anything.

"Hey, delinquents! What are you doing loitering in the parking lot? And shouldn't you be on your way home, Uchiha-brat?" Sasuke scowled at the nickname before turning to face Tsunade.

"Tsunade! We need a ride to my place!" Naruto ducked a punch Tsunade sent his way.

"And I suppose you want me to give you one, right?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yes, please."

Tsunade gave him an appraising look. "Amazing. He knows how to be polite. Alright, I'll give you a ride. But you still have to give me my sake back."

"I'll get you something soon, okay?" Naruto agreed quickly.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Sasuke was a little confused.

"Oh, well, you know the white-haired guy with the lines on his face and the silver car?" The Uchiha thought a while. That was the guy Naruto had gotten away with the second time he'd chased the blond.

"Yeah. What about him?"

"The guy's called Jiraiya. We went to school together," Tsunade explained boredly. Sasuke wasn't sure he believed that. From what he'd seen of Jiraiya the man was easily in his early fifties, but Tsunade looked more along the lines of early to late twenties. Tsunade must have seen his skeptical expression, because she immediately whapped him across the head. "What? Can't a woman look young for her age?"

"Come on!" Naruto was already beside Tsunade's black SUV, hopping around impatiently.

* * *

She dropped them off at a run down apartment and left, waving goodbye. Sasuke was confused. Weren't they going to Minato 's for supper? He said as much to Naruto, who gave him an apologetic look.

"See, I finally got Minato to go to a supper with Suna and patch things up, and that could be hazardous to anyone nearby. Since your dad already doesn't like Minato, we figured he wouldn't take kindly to his son getting sliced open by flying glass. So you're having supper at my apartment today. Don't worry, the food's just as good." Naruto explained this as he lead the way down a hallway, ignoring the baby cries, shouts and crashed coming from the other rooms. Sasuke got the impression that he was rambling.

The blond stopped at a badly painted orange door. Squatting, he began to unlock, one at a time, what seemed like dozens of locks. Starting from the bottom, the locks went straight to the top of the door, leaving no gaps in between them. Once inside, he motioned Sasuke to stay behind and began systematically deactivating what Sasuke could only assume were more security devices. Looking inside the room, he could see why.

Pristine, silky white carpet lined the floor, ending at two doorways at the far end of the room. The doors themselves were intricately carved and made out of expensive-looking wood, a far cry from the door they had entered through, which looked like it was about ready to fall apart at any moment. One of the doors was closed, but through the other one Sasuke could see into what appeared to be the kitchen, where marble covered the floor and tabletops. A full set of wooden cabinets lined the wall, and shiny silver appliances were arranged artfully over the counters. In the middle of the room was a glass table so clear it was almost invisible. Two plush white leather (real leather, Sasuke suspected) sat near the table, facing the plasma TV on the wall.

"Wow." Sasuke hadn't seen such expensive things since the last time he'd been at Minato 's, and this was an apartment in the worst part of town. Naruto was searching the fridge for food, apparently oblivious to Sasuke's awe.

"It was my mom's place," Naruto said quietly, snapping him out of his daze. Sasuke searched vainly for something comforting to say. In all the time he's come to know the blond, he'd never thought about what had happened to Naruto's real parents. Naruto cut him off before he opened his mouth. "Don't say anything. I don't want your pity." He handed Sasuke a carton of milk and a tomato. "It's not like I remember her very well, anyway."

Sasuke started pouring the milk into the two glasses the blond had put on the counter, placing the tomato to the side. "I never did ask you how you came to live with Minato. Charity?"

Naruto laughed. "With Minato, nothing's that simple." He took out the bread and some mayonnaise and began to build the sandwiches. "I don't really remember what happened after the car crash, but when Minato found me he said it'd been over a month since she'd died." He shook his head. "He never really told me why he'd been looking for me. I think he owed my mom something."

Naruto picked up the sandwiches and shoved one into Sasuke's hands. "I'm a pretty lucky guy, you know. Now I hope you know how to play Super Smash Bros., 'cause it's no fun playing against a newbie."

* * *

"I didn't tell him anything."

The look Hinata sent her younger sister was the closest thing to a glare the other girl had seen on the normally shy Hyuuga. "Then how did he find out?"

"I don't know." Hanabi didn't understand why her sister was so concerned, or how she'd found out about the conversation she'd had with her cousin. Probably the same way Hiashi had. Honestly, this was freaking Hanabi out. Hinata was acting like a cornered rat, and she'd never spoken to her little sister like this. "Why are you so worried about him, anyway? It's not like it affects you, and he hates all main house members, anyway."

"No, only Father." Hinata's expression had lost its anger, but Hanabi wasn't sure what had replaced it. "He was kind to me - the first person who ever was. He was my...friend. You probably don't understand."

Hanabi was quiet for a moment. "I didn't tell him anything."

Her sister looked at her a long while, before turning quietly and walking out of the room. Hanabi watched her thoughtfully for a while, then shrugged. Her sister really was strange.

* * *

Itachi stood up from his spot at the end of the table, silencing the wave of noise that had greeted Hinata's announcement. "Panicking will do us no good," he informed them smoothly. "They have no evidence that Neji is one of us, and even if he is detained for a while we can go on without him." He silenced Hinata's protests with a glare. "Neji was arrested for reasons unrelated to us. Getting involved would place us, and him, at risk." That said, he sat down, opening the table for the next speaker.

The hackers glanced at each other as they absorbed his words. Almost everybody was there, save Neji, Sasori and Anko. The last two would be informed of the conclusions reached immediately after the meeting.

"I disagree," a second hacker stood up, surprising the others. He was a younger member - they usually left the debates up to the older hackers. "The longer Neji is in the hands of the police, the greater the chance of him being discovered. You remember what Neji is - what we all are. If we're discovered, it's all over. If the police find out just who is behind this organization they'll do anything necessary to eliminate us. I hope you haven't forgotten what it's taken us to get this far." He sat down, and there was dead silence. Nobody had forgotten. A small voice spoke up then.

"I agree with Naruto," Hinata stated. "Besides the danger, Neji is out teammate. He's given us just as much as we have and worked just as hard. He was arrested because he hates my father, and knowing what Hiashi helped do to him and to us, nobody here can blame him for that. Are we just going to abandon him when he needs our help?

"Neji was stupid." Everyone turned to look as their leader himself entered the room, followed by two others. "He never should have said something like that in the Hyuuga Compound. Nevertheless, Hinata and Naruto both have a point." He looked pointedly at Itachi and the older hackers. "I can pull some strings and try to get him out. There's so little evidence it should be easy, and Hiashi is known for being paranoid." All the hackers nodded at this.

"Is that settled?" A silky voice inquired from behind the leader. "Then I believe we have a more important problem to deal with."

"Orochimaru," Itachi nodded at the man, causing some of the newer members to look up in surprise. Orochimaru rarely actually visited the hackers, and only the older member had actually seen him before. "What brings you here?"

"I've come across some information I believe you would all be interested to know. Tsunade may have informed you of it already, Itachi, but several reliable sources of mine have informed me that a certain group of politicians will be meeting soon to discuss reactivating the Guardian program."

Noise exploded in the room as everybody started talking at once. "Didn't they learn the first time?" Chouji was closest to the leader, who barely heard the calmly spoken statement.

"Apparently not," was all the leader could reply.

"This proves that they're only going to keep doing this sort of thing." Kisame's voice boomed above all the others. "The only way to stop it is to get rid of those responsible!"

Orochimaru stepped forward at this, quieting the crowd. "I agree. We all know that these people need to pay for their actions. That is the whole point of your little group, isn't it? But you can see that it isn't working. We need to send a clear message to them that we won't let them continue doing this."

"And how will we go about doing that?" Gaara asked warily.

"We should get rid of all the information on Guardian," Shikamaru suggested, earning nods of agreement from the younger hackers.

"That won't work, un. They remember - they'll just start over," Deidara spoke up for the first time that meeting. "We need something permanent."

"Then kill them," Orochimaru offered. "They deserve to die. Why should you all show them mercy?" The older hackers voiced their approval of this plan.

"But then we're no better than them," Naruto shot back, the ringleader of the younger hackers.

"Then maybe we aren't." Itachi took the head of the older hackers. "But after everything they did to you - everything they're planning to do to others - you still say they deserve to live? You're more forgiving than I am."

In the middle of the tension, the leader glanced at his watch and stood up. "Much as I hate to leave in the middle of everything, I have a previous engagement with Suna, Inc." He glanced at one of the members. " I agree that these politicians must be dealt with, but I'd prefer it if you avoided unnecessary bloodshed. I'll let you all make the final decision."

One of the hackers blinked. "But you cancelled the meeting with Suna-" He stopped as realization dawned in his eyes. "It wouldn't happen to be with a Miss Kurenai, would it?" The glare sent his way had sent grown men running.

"What are you talking about? I'm meeting with Suna." He paused on his way out. "Don't hurt each other too much, okay?"

* * *

Fugaku closed the door to his office, preventing any overly curious coworker from listening in on the conversation.

"You say you've caught someone who's part of the hackers, Hiashi?"

The other man nodded. "Yes. My nephew, Neji. But even if we can prove it, we don't know who the others are. And one of your agents-"

"Is in a coma, yes." Fugaku waved the comment away. "Genma knew the risks. It just means they're more dangerous than we thought."

"It means we're backing them into a corner, and you know what happens when you back an animal into a corner. It lashes out. The meeting to discuss the new program is tomorrow morning. Every scientist and a most of the other people involved in the Guardian project will be in one building. I hope you've upped security."

"They won't do anything that big. They're still scared of us. That's why they've been hiding behind their computers all this time."

The next day the news reported that a building containing several high-ranking scientists and government officials had exploded - killing everyone inside.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 6- Of Police and Crossdressers - ending program…

RBMIfan: Fugaku...is an idiot. And we have given so many hints in this chapter it isn't even funny. What do you guys think is going to happen _now_?

BasicallyAnIdiot: And we have most of the bloopers done, just say in your review if you want the blooper at the end of the next chapter of the ZV, or if you want me to pm you it. And The Challenge should be getting easier now to figure out, _but this is the __last__ time the Challenge is up._

**We challenge you guys!** : We bet none of you can guess the huge plot twist we have planned. We're going to turn the story upside down, chew it up, spit it out, put it through a blender, bend into the shape of various complicated mathematical formulas and then give it to the chemistry teacher and tell him to have fun with it. So… anyone have any ideas what it is? We're not going tell you, but we'd like to hear what you think. Who knows? We might take some of your ideas…

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers 

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader-? Age-? Program-?

Police 

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi


	7. Things That Go 'Boom'

Finally finished. The long wait was worth it people! (6000 words)

Written by: BasicallyAnIdiot

Edited by: RBMIfan

Warnings: AU, OOC moments (I'll try my best to keep those to a minimal), and no copying.

Disclaimer: This will go for the entire fic: I BasicallyAnIdiot do not own Naruto +company, merchandise, games, and anything else that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I am borrowing Naruto + company for the purpose of this story. Meaning: I am not doing anything illegal, so back off lawyers!

Now that's over we'll continue.

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 7- Things That go 'Boom'- launching program…

Pictures of the bombing were plastered across the screen of every television channel and radio stations fought over the most comprehensive coverage. At the station, the police barely noticed. An unnatural heaviness seemed to have settled over the station, and nobody felt it more than Fugaku. It had been his call to refuse to send extra officers, and now over a hundred people were dead.

He was in his office, alone, and he pulled out the whiskey bottle he kept hidden in the bottom drawer of his desk. After he filled the shot glass to the trim, tipped his head back, he drained the entire thing in one gulp. There was a tentative knock on his door.

Fugaku quickly replaced the alcohol and glass in his desk and closed his eyes, "Come in."

Kurenai opened the door slowly, checking his mood as she did. Fugaku frowned at that. His temper was that bad.

"Sir, my father wants an update on the situation. He needs to calm the public down, even if he can't have any real information on the case." Fugaku noticed how calm the woman was, even in the face of this crisis. An admirable trait. They really were fortunate to have someone like her.

"Tell him I'll call him as soon as I can, but this station needs order before we can do anything productive." The whiskey had kicked in, deadening his nerves, and the sight of a competent officer had raised his spirits somewhat. He stood and motioned Kurenai to precede him through the door.

It was worst than he'd thought. Just outside the door was a sea of officers, running back and forth, passing around important papers, and shouting for assistance in any number of areas. His sons had just arrived there from school and, in his opinion, were doing a admirable job of restoring some semblance of order. There were just too many people, though, as officers had been called in from their duties (and other regions) to supplement the regular staff.

It was time to fulfill his duty as the chief of police. "Stop!" Everyone in the room froze at the order, eyes fixed on his more-formidable-than-he-realised form in the doorway. From the corner of his eye, he was Itachi smirk at that. "We will not run around like headless chickens," The smirk widened. Fugaku had stolen that term directly from Tsunade and his son knew it. "What kind of example are we setting for the rest of the population if we panic at the first catastrophe. Yes, there was a bombing. Yes, this is a big deal. So we got to pull ourselves together and figure out how the hell this happened." He looked out at the slightly stunned officers with satisfaction. It had been a while since he'd had an excuse to make a speech like that. He turned to Itachi, the only one of the lot that wasn't stunned (Sasuke had never heard his father talk like that before), and began his orders there. "Itachi, you're in charge of physical evidence, get a team on the scene as soon as possible. Tsunade, when you're done with the reports I want you to figure out what bomb was used. Everyone else in on patrol, but I don't want the public to see more of you than usual on the street. Sasuke… see what you can do about our 'guest'. And I want the ANBU team on the phone five minutes ago!"

In a minute it was hard to believe that the room had just recently been in chaos. It was amazing what a distinct goal could do for organization. Feeling his job was done for the moment, Fugaku returned to his office to call Kurenai's father.

* * *

Sasuke dodged a team of officers as they hurried down the hall on some mission or other. As if the bombing on the meeting building wasn't bad enough, someone had been caught on station grounds the same night. Near him was the remains of a partially exploded bomb. They suspected that whomever blew up the other building had been planning to take down the police as well.

Despite his misgivings, Sasuke didn't pause as he opened the door to the interrogation room, nodding to the officer he was replacing as she passed him on her way out. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of the detainee. Especially considering the nature of this one. He sat behind a desk to regard Kimimaro, a student just a year or two above him at his high school. He was sitting on a simple couch, the only other furniture in the room besides Sasuke's chair and desk. Kimimaro's jade eyes betrayed no emotion, did not even show signs of recognition, though Sasuke was well known in the area for his relation to Fugaku and Itachi. To have such control over his reactions at such a young age… Sasuke shook his in wonder. Even some of their best undercover agents would have trouble pulling off a face as blank as that. Sasuke didn't even have to be a master interrogator to know that he wouldn't talk easily.

His clothes took Sasuke by surprise: a startling contrast to the school uniform he'd always seen the pale boy in before. A long grey 'gi' covered most of the chest area, leaving a 'V' cut down the center just long enough to expose an odd mark on the crest. The pants were fairly tight and led to sandals that Sasuke was sure came straight from the feudal era. Kimimaro's side bangs were braided, and he'd threaded beads through the rest of the rest of his hair. One wouldn't think the boy capable of taking on three police officers if not for the ugly, blue-purple bruises forming on his left cheek and the back of his neck.

He turned slightly as the door opened again, admitting his partner, but kept an eye on the detainee, Sakura walked over to his desk absently, absorbed in whatever was on the clipboard she was holding. At the sight of her, some unidentifiable emotion flashed briefly across Kimimaro's face. By the time Sakura turned to look at him, the emotion was gone and he had closed his eyes, not reacting at her soft gasp.

"Kimi-chan?" Her voice was questioning, tentative. Sasuke had a feeling he knew what was going on- hadn't he seen her with Kimimaro down at the park months ago? He remembered thinking it was odd that she'd be hanging out with someone so far removed from her usual circle of friends.

"Do you know him, Sakura?" If they were close he'd have to ask her to leave. It wouldn't do to have a biased interrogator, though Sasuke wasn't looking forward to doing it alone.

Sakura looked down, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "He's my boyfriend." She muttered. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. She'd admitted to have a boyfriend when he's inquired about some documents she'd scribbled hearts over. Apparently it was a boy who'd lived next to her since she was five, but he hadn't pried into the identity of the kid. It was a bit awkward.

He sighed. "You know what happens now."

"Yes. I can't participate in the case." Casting a last look at Kimimaro, she left, probably to watch from the one-way window. Sasuke indulged in one more sigh before turning to their unwilling guest.

"Now, can you tell me what happened?"

* * *

Kimimaro was still as stone throughout the entire interview. Watching him, it reminded Sakura of the time he shown her how to meditate. She hadn't even gotten the hang out it, but when Kimimaro meditated he barely even breathed. She smiled sadly.

The Kimimaro she knew was gentle. She couldn't imagine him being involved in something like this. At the same time, though, she knew he wouldn't talk. There was just something about the way he sat that told her nobody had any power over him.

'What should I do? Where do my loyalties lie: with my job or with my friends?' Sakura didn't have an answer to that.

* * *

Sasuke was, to say the least, frustrated as he walked out of the interrogation room. He nodded to the officer replacing him, hoping the other man would have more luck. They'd wear the suspect down eventually, he told himself. He just had to be patient. He went to Sakura, who was still gazing through the window.

"He didn't even move." Following her gaze, he watched the new officer sit down in the same desk he had, Sakura nodded silently, her head barely moving. Her face was carefully composed, but Sasuke could see the indecision in her eyes. She handed him a folder, not even glancing at him. Sasuke opened to find the report by the officer that had brought Kimimaro in.

Reading it filled in several hole in the entire situation. Sasuke had known that Kimimaro had been apprehended on police grounds, but apparently he hadn't been alone. Two more people had been spotted fleeing the scene, though nobody had gotten a good look. The remains of the bomb had been found had his fingerprints on them, so it wasn't a coincidence that he was there. The officer speculated that perhaps he had accidentally set off the bomb while trying to plant in the base.

The bomb squad reported that it would take exactly three bombs of the same power as the one that exploded to bring down the base. Three intruders: three bombs. Even if Kimimaro never spoke a one word to them, he was in deep trouble. The most troublesome part of the report was just how _easily_ all three had gotten in. The cameras had mysteriously all been pointing in just the right directions to hide the bombers' movements. They'd obviously known exactly where the patrols and workers were and when they were there. If one of the bombs hadn't gone off prematurely, nobody would have known it until it was too late.

With a bomb powerful enough to take down a third of a building, it was a wonder Kimimaro survived it. They'd called a doctor to check him over, but the hospitals and clinics were busy with the injuries from the explosion and an insanely contagious flu that was going around. The other boy had given no signs of being in pain.

They were silent for a while, watching the new officer trying to elicite some response from Kimimaro, when Sakura spoke, her voice firm. "I want to talk to him, off the books." Sasuke nodded.

"You're not in the investigation, and I'm only in for the preliminary stages. I think I can permission." Sakura licked her lips and nodded back.

"Tell me when you get an answer."

* * *

"Sasuke, could I speak to you for a moment?" Iruka had been loitering near the door to Sasuke's office, and called out as soon as the teen came into view. Sasuke blinked, surprised, but nodded and motioned for the officer to precede him as he entered his office and sank down in his chair.

"What did you want to tell me?" Iruka wasn't a common sight in the police base. He was technically a part-time officer and Fugaku gave him odd jobs to do, but his work as a teacher kept him busy most workdays.

"The prisoner, Kimimaro," Sasuke paused in rubbing his temples. He hadn't known Iruka was in on that case, "you've probably noticed an odd mark on his chest. It's very likely that that is Orochimaru's mark."

Sasuke stared, his face paling. "As in _the _Orochimaru?"

"Well, it's not a very common name," Iruka quip might have been funny had Sasuke been listening. Orochimaru practically owned the underground. He'd been declared a genius even before he went rogue, and people who crossed him tended to disappear. The few assassins belonging to him that the police had managed to capture all bore an odd mark somewhere on their body, though nobody had managed to figure out the significance of it. That a kid Sasuke had been going to school with for years worked for a man like that…it was hard to believe. And it made one wonder where else Orochimaru had agents.

* * *

"You were going to blow up the police?!"

The two were in a sitting room near the backyard, curtains closed over the open windows and a pleasant breeze blowing in. It would have been an ideal setting but for the conversation topic. Naruto was pacing, furious energy preventing him from sitting still, and Minato was sitting in a plush chair, eyes closed as if exhausted. "They were meddling."

Naruto's eyes flashed crimson as he levelled a furious glare as his guardian. Minato raised an eyebrow, but maintained his mask of indifference. "Don't involve your personal issues with the police when lives are at stake," the younger blond hissed, hands closing into fists.

Minato's eyes were cold when they stared back at his ward, devoid of their usual light-hearted cheerfulness. Naruto didn't waver, staring back with defiant determination. Minato sighed. "It doesn't matter. We ended up not doing it."

Naruto refused to back down. "Only because you found out Kurenai was in there. I bet you wouldn't have called it off for Sasuke." Minato winced at this, and opened his mouth to respond, but Naruto cut him off. "I bet you never cared about Sasuke in the first place. He's just another piece on your little chessboard, and you humour him because it would look bad if you didn't." He turned and stormed off before Minato could get a word in edgewise.

Minato stayed in his chair for quite a while after his ward had left, wondering what had happened to the seven-year-old who'd come crying to him whenever there was a thunderstorm, or who begged to sleep with him when he had nightmares of 'white tables and needles'. He fished around his back pocket for a bag of aspirin and popped two in his mouth to ward off the beginnings of a major headache. Downing a glass of water to wash them down, he was about to turn off the lights when the door slammed open.

He decided then that mere painkillers wouldn't be enough to stop the headache. "Hello, Orochimaru."

The crime lord skipped the pleasantries, as usual. "What did you think you were doing, calling off the second bombing last-minute? Because of you, Kimimaro's been caught."

Minato smirked at the other man. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about him."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed into slits. "Then it's a good thing you know better, isn't it, Namikaze? You have absolutely no idea how long it takes to train a child in the art of assassination, do you? And on top of that, it's not exactly easy to pick up new ones without everybody making a fuss nowadays."

Minato kept his laughter to himself; though it was his private opinion that the crime lord cared a lot more for his pet assassins than he'd ever admit. His amusement was short-lived, as he remembered that he still had a lot of cleaning up to do after the aborted mission.

* * *

Kakashi couldn't believe his luck, and that they had over looked something like this. It could be enough to bring three more suspects in for the hacker case. Picking up his cell phone, he sent a text message to the other officers on the case for a second opinion, leaving Sasuke, who had enough on his plate already. He brought up the files he'd found and stated an inquiry into related ones while he waited for the officers to arrive. He didn't have to wait long. Asuma came in first trailed by Kurenai, Gai and Iruka.

"What did you find?" Asuma spoke first leaning against the wall, Kakashi displayed the files.

"You remember those three students we couldn't get files on, right?" Everyone nodded.

"Did you find them?" Iruka asked curiously. Kakashi remembered that all three were in his class.

"No, but I _did _find their parents' file. Take a look at this." He handed the files to the officers. "They were all arrested on the charges of hacking classified information belong to the government."

* * *

Sakon kept his head down as he followed Aiko through the crowd of mourners, fighting back his irritation at their incessant crying. Why did most people have to be so _annoying_. Aiko dropped back beside him, murmuring in his ear. "You remember what the target looks like?" He nodded impatiently. "This is where I live you, then. Good luck." With that she was gone, weaving deftly through the crowds.

"Was that your mother, un?" A voice by Sakon's ear caused him to jump and whirl around. He recognized the hackers' contact, Deidara, who was grinning as if to a joke only he knew the punchline to. Sakon scowled, not liking that the other boy could sneak up on him.

"Yes," he lied smoothly. "What are you doing here?"

"I always go to the funerals of those… affected by my work, un." The blond's eyes were unusually solemn, for which Sakon was grateful. He didn't have time to humour one of Deidara's moods, especially since the clouds were getting ominously dark. As if proving his fears, Sakon felt a raindrop on his face, quickly turning into a downpour. He swore and ducked under one of the makeshift shelters that had been erected earlier, renewing his scan of the crowds. Deidara just looked up calmly.

"It's like the world is crying for them." He frowned thoughtfully. "I wonder why."

"The world doesn't cry for anyone." Sakon said firmly. "Why should it?" He shook his head and turned to walk away- the rain might chase his target away. He paused, though, when Deidara spoke up again.

"Do you regret it?" Sakon didn't turn to see the other boy's face and shot back an answer over his shoulder.

"They were evil, weren't they?" He brushed his wet bangs from his face and glanced back to see the blond's grim smile.

* * *

Cat-gold eyes narrowed when she burst into his room, but the man gave no indication of acknowledging her presence. Typical Orochimaru, Tsunade thought, irritated. She didn't waste any pleasantries on him. Walking right up from the door to his overstuffed chair, she delivered a sharp slap to his cheek. If anybody else had done that, they'd be dead in a heartbeat. As it was, Orochimaru only raised a pale hand to the angry red mark, and sighed, bracing himself for whatever tirade his actions had brought on this time. Tsunade didn't disappoint.

"How dare you!" Tsunade's voice was a furious hiss, and Orochimaru flinched despite himself. "What possessed you to convince them to use killing force! It's bad enough that that's _your _first resort, nobody needs you influencing others as well. And the police station, as well! Oh I know all about that Oro-chan." The nickname was spoken sweetly, and the crime lord knew very well that she only used it when she was especially irritated with him. "Did you even once stop to consider the fact that _I work there_? At least Minato had the decency to call it off for his girlfriend. But oh no, you can't spare a thought for even _warning _your dear, childhood friend." She wiped away fake tears at this. "I hope you're happy, Orochimaru."

She turned on heel and left as quickly as she'd come in, nearly crashing into Tayuya on her way out the door. It took the redhead a little over a second to recover, which meant she was distracted. Orochimaru was pretty sure why.

"Orochimaru-sama, Sakon had return. We are all waiting on your orders about Kimimaro." As always when she spoke to him, Orochimaru was quietly amused at the politeness of her speech- to everyone else she was anything but.

"Of course. I want Kidomaru to stay behind and co-ordinate with the hackers. As they have agents on the inside," Tayuya was almost positive that Orochimaru's eye twitched at that, after all, he had been trying to get people on the inside for years, "they have agreed to clear the way for us. The rest will proceed with the plan we discussed before." Tayuya nodded and excused herself far more politely than Tsunade had. Orochimaru watched her go, then pulled out the clothes catalogue he'd picked up earlier. He'd have to get a set of winter coats for Minato's next move. Really, the man was far too predictable.

* * *

Sasuke checked in with a passing officer to see hoe the situation with Kimimaro was going. The officer said, to Sasuke's surprise, that Itachi had recommended that take a break to let the parents in to visit him. Thinking it over, though, he realised his bother's reasoning. The boy's parents had already been demanding their son back, and a visit might satisfy them a while, since the police couldn't release him until they knew what he'd done.

Sakura had taken a team to investigate the three hacker suspects, mostly to keep her away from the Kimimaro case, and wouldn't be back for several hours. And the rest of the officers on the case had kicked him out, claiming that they had a handle on it and that he should go do 'teenager stuff'. Idiots. But it meant Sasuke suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands. He decided to take a walk, to clear his head. Perhaps he'll come up with something. With that in mind, he grabbed a coat and umbrella (the forecast called for rain) and stepped outside.

As he walked, his mind wandered. No matter what, he couldn't shake the feeling that the bombing and the hackers were related. It was crazy -what possible motive would they have for blowing up politicians- but then again, the entire meeting was kind of shady. Sasuke had always kept an eye on government doings, partly because it was interesting and partly in case he had to deal with them for a case, and no reason had been given for the meeting. He'd heard, in fact, that the politicians in question had tried to hush it up, but the paparazzi had been particularly stubborn.

He stopped realising with a start that he had unconsciously walked to a familiar white mansion with immaculate grounds. He blinked, then sighed, a smile tugging at his mouth. Of course his feet would take him here; this place that had a feel of an uncle he'd only recently realised he had (a strange uncle, but an uncle nonetheless). He stood there for a few moments, opening his umbrella when he noticed a wet drop on his nose, then pressed the intercom button on the gate.

"Yeah?" Naruto's voice responded immediately.

"It's Sasuke. I got some time off from the station. Can I come in?" Sasuke kept the nervousness out of his voice quite well. It was only natural, he told himself. He'd never dropped in on anyone unannounced before, and wasn't sure how he'd be received.

"Hey, really? Sure you can come in." There was a click and the gate opened. Sasuke started in, but Naruto's voice called after him. "Minato has some guests over right now. Watch out for them, okay? I'll meet you in the entrance hall."

"Alright," Sasuke answered, confused. Who could Minato's guests be? He walked down the long, winding stone path through the garden, marvelling as he always did that anyone could need a garden so _big._ That was Minato for you, though.

He was maybe halfway down the trail when he saw three men approaching from the mansion. He recognized Minato sun-kissed mop of hair immediately, chatting with another man under a large, elaborate umbrella. It took Sasuke a minute to place him, but the trenchcoat and overly dark glassed gave him away as the insect-specialist his father had hired to assist with a murder case a while back. The man reminded him of Shino, from school.

It was the third man, walking slightly apart from the other two, that caught Sasuke's attention. Ha had no umbrella, but the rain seemed to shy away from him as it fell. His shoulder-length hair was a deep crimson the likes of which he'd never seen before, but that reminded Sasuke unnervingly of spilled blood. The man turned his eyes from Minato and looked directly at Sasuke then, and the teen saw that they were the same shade as his hair and slitted like a cat's. The look sent chills down Sasuke's spine. As if he sensed the teen's fear, the man smiled coldly, and to Sasuke he looked almost feral.

He might have left then, but the group had moved into earshot and Minato finally looked up from his conversation with the Shino look-a-like and noticed Sasuke. His face lit up, and he waved to the Uchiha. He turned back to his companion briefly.

"So, I'll call you later with the details?" he asked, gaining a silent nod in return. "Excellent!" He turned then to the red-haired stranger, and his eyes darkened a little bit as he did so. "Will you be staying?"

The feral man smiled again and shook his head. "No. I'll leave you to entertain your," his eyes flickered back to Sasuke, "guest."

* * *

By the time he'd made it into the house and survived through another episode of the chaos Minato called 'dinner', Sasuke had nearly forgotten about the blond's disturbing houseguest. Minato led them all into a ridiculously comfortable sitting room, and Sasuke set to work on perusing the large bookshelf at the back. Minato declared that he had work to do and pulled a desk down off the wall (Sasuke decided not to ask). Sneaking a look, over his novel, though, he could swear he saw a bright yellow smilie face.

Nearly forgotten, of course, was quite different from completely forgotten.

"Minato," he began hesitantly, not sure he wanted to know the answer, "Who was that man from earlier- the red-head?"

Naruto looked up from where he was dismantling a complicated 3-D puzzle on the floor, watching Minato warily. Minato just rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"He's a… business partner." Minato looked at Sasuke and grinned ruefully. "He's a bit disconcerting, isn't he? Don't worry about it overmuch. I can handle him."

Disconcerting wasn't the word Sasuke would have used. It wasn't his business, he supposed. He glanced as Naruto, but the other boy had started back at the puzzle with renewed vigour. Minato noticed his look, and laughed.

"Don't ask Naruto's opinion. The kid is completely in love with the man – idolizes him, almost."

Naruto glanced up to glare at his guardian. "That's not true, and you know it, Minato. Geez, the way you act I almost think you're _jealous_."

Minato's eye narrowed at this, and Sasuke realised he'd stumbled upon an old argument. He searched his mind frantically for something to ward off the coming fight. "Hey, Minato. Naruto says you know Tsunade. Is that true?

Minato and Naruto fixed him with identical blank stares. Minato was the first to recover, putting on his usual bright smile. "Oh, her. Yeah, I've met her several times. She's quite the woman, isn't she?"

"That's one way to say it." Sasuke smirked ruefully. Thinking of the honorary officer reminded Sasuke of the bombing. "Minato, what do you think of the-"

"It was bound to happen." Minato didn't even let him finish the question, then smirked at the boy's surprised expression. Naruto beat him to coming up with a smart response, though.

"Don't look so surprised. He's been waiting for you to ask that since the building blew." Now it was Naruto's turn to smirk as Minato levelled a pouting glare at him. "He loves to be smarter than other people when it comes to these kind of things."

"May I continue?" Minato asked him pointedly. Naruto waved permission and Minato turned back to Sasuke. "I'm going to give you some advice, free of charge. Always ask questions. We don't know anything about this case right now. People don't wake up one morning and decide to blow up a building." He paused. "Okay, some people do. But the point is that most people don't. So we need a motive. And there were an awful lot of politicians in that building. I'm pretty sure the number of enemies that all had combined wouldn't fit into a coliseum. Assuming, of course, that they were the targets."

"You don't have to remind me." Sasuke rubbed his head – just listening to it gave him a headache. "I'm so glad I'm not in charge of that case."

Minato laughed. "Isn't it your brother that's in charge of it?"

Sasuke had long ago decided there was nothing Minato didn't know about, so he didn't question this statement. "Yes. Though I don't know how Father convinced him to take it. Itachi says he wants nothing to do with the police."

"Your brother's smart. Us government insiders aren't very nice once you get to know us." Sasuke couldn't keep the scepticism out of his eyes at that. It was hard to imagine Minato as anything but nice.

"But the police aren't involved in politics-" Sasuke's response was cut off by the blond CEO's laughter. He seemed to find the conversation absolutely hilarious.

"_Everything _revolves around politics. What you had for breakfast revolves around politics." Sasuke gave him a sceptical look. "What? You'd be surprised at what they fight over in those meetings. Anyways, the entire organization is pretty much just what they can get away with. Those big slip-ups you see in the newspaper are just what they couldn't cover up in time."

"You sound like a conspiracy theorist." Actually, looking back at the blond's personality, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. "If the government was really as irresponsible as you say, somebody would have noticed by now."

"People believe what they want to believe," Naruto butted in quietly at that. "And they want to believe that the government is doing it's best. So if the government says that something is true, people will believe them."

Naruto finished dismantling the puzzle and was staring at his hands with an unreadable expression. Sasuke frowned, wondering what he was thinking. Before he could he ask, though, Minato had pulled a file of newspapers clippings from a drawer and dropped them in his lap. "You were complaining the other day about Tsunade-hime's use of newspapers. I'll show how she does it." He opened the file and pulled out three newspaper clippings, all from different newspapers. "If you find ths same information in all of these, chances are it's true. That, or the authors were copying."

Sasuke looked over the articles (on a murder case he remembered from a week ago) and saw the man's point. His respect for the other man went up another notch.

* * *

Itachi stood quietly outside the door of the police station as Neji was led outside. Hiashi and Hinata received him –Itachi noted the scowl on Hiashi's face- and the officers bowed and returned to their offices. He didn't let himself relax until the other boy was out of sight, always half-expecting someone to run out and say that more evidence had been found against him.

Neji had gotten off on lack of evidence, but Itachi knew that wouldn't be the case much longer. Minato had known that police would catch up to them eventually, but things were starting to spiral out of control. Itachi would rather be out of the country when Sasuke realised just how far this actually went.

* * *

The next day, Tenten wondered what on earth possessed her to accompany this group of wannabe-stalkers on their little adventure. Really, they were going to break the law so they could fins blackmail on the poor unsuspecting object of the fangirls' admiration. What was even more amusing was the fact that her superiors had no problem with it. Actually, she was pretty sure they found the whole thing hilarious, nevermind that their jobs was to stop these sorts of adventures.

Sayoko and Mika huddled over the little map they'd printed off of "Google" Earth, leading the group deeper into the shadier parts of town. Tenten glanced nervously at the faded brown wallpaper and cracked, dirty windows. Deidara was always so cheerful and flamboyant at school that she'd never considered him living in a place like this. She noticed that Hikari, the youngest of the group had started edging closer to the others, as well, but her enthusiasm didn't wane at all until they were actually standing outside the blond's home.

She had to admit; the method the girls had come up with to actually get into the house was brilliant. She'd have to tip off the other officers about it after this was all over. Even so, it was almost didn't work. Mika got a gash across her right hand from a trap in the window, and Tenten located several basic warning devices hidden in the doorway. She dismantled them carefully, and the five girls entered.

Tenten fell back as the other four girls darted ahead excitedly, inspecting anything they could get their hands on. Tenten had to remind them to leave everything as they found it. She wandered over to what she assumed was the living room, from the threadbare couch and old, worn table that took up a good third of the small room. The only decoration on the table was a single photograph depicting a tired young woman holding a newborn and surrounded by three children. Tenten assumed that the tiny blond boy peeking shyly out from behind the two older children was Deidara. She glanced back at the two door leading elsewhere in the house, leading to what looked like a kitchen and a room covered in blankets – both smaller than the living room. This house was hardly big enough to house two people, let alone five.

Tenten stopped her examination of the living room at a cry from one of the girls. Alarmed, she spun around and rushed to the blanketed room. Gai, when he'd learned of the girls' plot and given Tenten permission, had assured her that everybody would be out of the house at noon, so what-?

She burst into the room at the same time as the girl who'd been in the kitchen, to see Aiko, the oldest of the group, staring wide-eyed at a ticking metal box nestled in the middle of the heaps of blankets on the floor. Tenten froze. What was something like that doing in Deidara's house? Instinctively, she pulled out her cell phone and took pictures, before ushering the four stunned girls out of the house.

* * *

Deidara couldn't concentrate on the lesson after lunch. He felt queasy for some reason, and he could only assume that something very, very bad was going to happen. Deidara's instincts were usually right, and that didn't make him feel any better. The feeling only got worse when two girls who'd been absent since lunch burst into the classroom looking like they had been running.

Ibiki stopped in the middle of his speech and scowled at them, causing both to lose what little colour they had left in their faces.

"What are you doing here?"

Sayoko was the first to recover and stammer out an excuse, glancing uneasily in Deidara's direction. "W-we were late coming back from lunch. We're sorry, it'll never happen again."

Ibiki frowned ever more, and the class gave the girls pitying looks. The resident maths and physics teacher was known for his… unique punishment. He had just opened his mouth to reply when there was a knock at the door. Ibiki's eye twitched, and he moved to open the door, greeting the quest with an annoyed "What?" Normally, Deidara would have been amused at the sight, but he'd caught a glance at the visitor before Ibiki closed the door behind them. It was a police officer.

Deidara glanced at Itachi and Anko, the only other hackers in the class. Itachi's face was carefully neutral, but Anko looked scared. It was a slightly unnerving sight, actually.

Ibiki came back in after a few minutes, and called Deidara to leave the class. He glanced at Itachi again, eyes asking desperately what to do. The Uchiha nodded almost imperceptivity, indicating he should go with the officer. Deidara stood up slowly, telling himself that he could deal with whatever the police threw at him. They couldn't possibly have any real evidence, could they?

The officer introduced himself to Deidara, and explained that he was under arrest for illegal possession an explosive. He let out an inward sigh of relief – his bombs couldn't be traced back to the hackers. The group was still safe.

He offered no resistance when the officer put handcuffs on him and led him out of the school. But when he saw the armoured, windowless van he was apparently to ride in his eyes widened. He stopped, not even trying to keep his hands from trembling. He couldn't go in there. It was too small, too enclosed. There were probably no lights.

He backed up, but the officers grabbed him and forced him into the truck, slamming the door. His breathing sped up as total blackness closed around him, and his back muscles twitched. He felt the change well up inside him, and frantically willed it to stop, but he was to panicked to concentrate. The van lurched suddenly. Deidara's defences crumbled, he screamed as the space in the van suddenly got even smaller, and got a mouthful of feathers when the van tipped over on its side.

* * *

Sakura glanced around her nervously as she walked quickly down the hall. She wasn't suppose to be there, since Itachi had order everybody but the assigned guards out of the wing for a security update. Sakura just hoped they hadn't gotten to this hall yet, or she'd likely trip over new motion sensor they were trying out.

She had to talk to Kimimaro, and Sasuke hadn't been able to get permission. She knew the night guards, though. They would let her in for a few minutes. They had to. So absorbed in these thoughts was she that she jumped when her foot hit something soft. She looked down. One of the guards was lying facedown in the hall. She quickly bent down and checked his pulse –alive. She sped up and rounded the corner to Kimimaro's room where she found another guard in the same state. Kimimaro's door was wide open. Sakura's hand flew to the button that would alert the station to the escape, but she paused just an inch from it. Pulling the alarm wouldn't do any good, she told herself, and she wasn't supposed to be here anyway. She'd leave the scene for another officer to find. That would be the best thing to do. She certainly wasn't doing it to help Kimimaro escape.

* * *

Bloopers will are in a chapter just for them following this. Expect them to be posted in a week or two.

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers 

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader-? Age-? Program-?

Police 

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi


	8. 8 12 Cafes and Birdbrains

Side notes: Umm... there's nothing I can really say to explain why this took so long to write. And this is only the first half of the chapter as well. Naturally, I considered leave it at a cliffhanger, but that would be mean, and I was cruel enough to forget posting this for a while. (coughmonthscough 'Scuse me, something got caught in my throat...) Anyways, hope this keeps you guys relatively happy until I can get the other half from RBMIfan (easier said than done, I assure you.)

Starting... Opening... Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 8 1/2- Cafes and Birdbrains- launching program...

There was a moment of confusion when the explosion sent the van toppling to its side. The officers around it were flung to the ground like rag dolls and the small group of people that had gathered to watch screamed as small pieces of debris richoted in their direction.

The officer in charge was the first to recover, rolling onto his hands and knees and peering around for the source of the explosion. The school's property did not extend very far, and the other side of the street was littered with small alleyways. The perfect spot to hide a bomber.

He swore and ducked behind another overturned car. There were already two officers there, and one glance told him that they had come to the same conclusion he had. A quick scan of the area showed two bodies lying motionless beside the van; leaving three more unaccounted for. He just hoped they were alive.

He unhooked his gun when no more explosions occurred, training his eye on the alley. It was possible that this was a hit and run, but timing told him the bomber was with the boy they'd arrested. There was a hurried movement in the alley directly across from him; he fired at it, then to one side of it. The clatter of garbage cans colliding with concrete drowned out the sound of gunfire, but there was no further movement from the alley.

"Captain." An insistent voice at his elbow, bruised he noticed along with his forearms and legs, turned his attention away from the alley. "The kid's escaping."

The captain swore and motioned the other officer to stay. "Watch the alley. I want to know the minute you see movement of any kind." He didn't wait for the brisk 'yes, sir!' before motioning to the remaining officer and training his gun on the van.

The kid had worked most of the door loose and was now working on the last hinge. The captain glanced at the alley, then back to the van. He had to stop the kid from making a run for it. Lifting his gun, he thanked Fugaku for giving them leave to use any means possible. He shot, aiming at the top right corner of the door. He wanted to scare the kid into letting up.

It didn't work. The bullet struck the metal door hard, and there was slight pause on the other side. In seconds; however, the hinge visibly strained once more, drawing a scowl from the captain.

"Captain! Movement in the-" The officer's sudden warning was cut off by another explosion, this one about two feet from the van. The captain threw himself to the ground to escape the blow and winced as he felt heat wash over him. Even through his tightly clenched eyelids all he could see was white.

He waited several moments before cracking his eyes open and blinking away the spots. The officer assigned to watch the alley was beside him, staring fixedly at the van along with his teammate. When he turned to see what had happened, he almost joined them. The explosion had ripped off a good chunk of the van, leaving a gaping, twisting hole that offered a clear escape route for the prisoner inside. And that was exactly what he was doing, because several thin, crimson-stained fingers had already wrapped themselves around the edges and were pulling the rest of the body forward. The captain glanced nervously at the alley as he shifted his position. If he moved the bomber would respond. He was sure of it. But he couldn't just watch as a criminal walked away because he couldn't do anything. He lifted his gun and trained it low to the ground, where the kid's legs would be.

It seemed to take a long time. The blond had been scratched up quite a bit in the two explosions, and he moved as if he was unsure of his balance. The captain tensed his finger on the trigger as the blond's head came through, but what came next made him completely forget about why he was doing so. They were ruffled and dirty from being tossed around, but the golden-brown things protruding from the boy's back were definitely wings.

Wary blue eyes took in the scene, coming to rest on the captain's. The eyes, despite everything, were normal, and the captain was quite familiar with the expression in them. It was enough to remind him of his job. In one quick motion he reaimed at the legs that had now emerged and fired. The boy yelped and jumped. The officer to his left shouted something about the alley. A group of people rounded the corner and screamed as another bomb exploded next to the overturned car. A golden-brown form shot into the air above the wreckage and disappeared into the clouds.

In the alleyway, an amber-haired woman watched him go; face upturned and eyes impossibly solemn. A younger girl stood slightly behind her, and kept flickering glances towards the gathering crowd. She stepped forward and gently touched the woman on the shoulder, "Nee-sama, we have to go."

"Do you think he'll be okay?" The woman didn't move her eyes from the sky. Her sister was silent a moment, but responded.

"Nii-sama can take care of himself. The last thing he wants is us worrying about him."

* * *

There was a particular café, located deep inside the city, that had a reputation for excellent tea and home baked pastries. It was the favorite meeting place of many prominent businessmen. And kept its patrons to itself, attracting several businessmen of a shadier variety.

It was Saturday, around noon, when one such patron entered the café. Nobody turned to look, because if they didn't know who it was they couldn't get in trouble for it. He came in without a word and seated himself at a corner table, the farthest from the door, with a good view of the entire room. He seemed to have no qualms about recognizing anyone present. The waitress on duty placed a glass of water in front of him immediately, but did not ask for his order. He had been there before, and they knew he would not order until the one he had been waiting for showed up.

That man came in several minutes later. In every sense he seemed the opposite of the first one. Where the newcomer was pale, with hair as black as wet cement, the other was darkly tanned and had a deep red hair colour. The colour of blood, some of the darker-minded said, and it did not seem an inappropriate label. He wore a leather jacket, open at the front, with jeans to match and a shirt the same shade as his hair. The dark haired man, in contrast, wore a finely tailored suit that seemed void of any crease or stain. Both their eyes, if one looked closely, were slitted, though one pair was red and the other a sickly yellow. Both walked as though others were beneath their notice, and spoke not a word to anyone but each other or the waitress.

The redhead hadn't touched his water, so the dark man helped himself as he sat down. He didn't bother to wave over the waitress. She would come soon enough. "We really should stop meeting like this, Kyuubi", he greeted the redhead, who merely closed his eyes. "It really isn't proper for us to work together. " He smiled slightly at the last comment, and the redhead chuckled.

"You've never been one to concern yourself with propriety, Orochimaru." His eyes opened into amused slits and he gave a lazy grin that seemed almost feral. "You needn't start on my behalf." They paused as the waitress came over: coffee, black, for the redhead, and lemon tea, plenty of sugar, for the dark-haired man and a basket of pastries to go in the middle.

"You've been speaking to Shibi?" Orochimaru began when the waitress had left.

"And Jiraiya. 'Guardian' has taken the hint, it seems." He paused, chin resting lightly on the back of his hand. "Tsunade came, as well. She's very upset with you. Says you aren't concerned about her safety at all." He gave another smile. "Naturally, I comforted her."

Orochimaru scowled at the jab, knowing full well it was meant to provoke him one way or another. "She'll forgive me soon enough." He shrugged, as if it didn't matter to him one-way or the other. "Have you spoken to Naruto recently? I've heard rumors that you've been forbidden from visiting."

Vaguely, at the table she was, the waitress noticed a sharp temperature drop coming from her costumers in the corner. Inwardly sighing, she could only brace herself for the next bit. Another waiter brushed by, pausing a moment to whisper in her ear, "So it begins." She nodded in agreement, returning to her duties.

"Lies, all of it," He snapped back, perhaps too quickly. He was angry now, remembering his last visit there. "The idiot blond would never have the guts to order me around, anyway. He was always a coward." This last bit was said with a bitter twist to the mouth, one that raised Orochimaru's eyebrows a little. The snake-eyed crime lord had never fully understood the redhead's history with Minato, and all attempts to discover more quickly came up against a brick wall.

"So I've heard." He leaned back in his chair and willed those thoughts out of his mind. It was no good dwelling on something he could not hope to know. Conversation trailed off again as their orders arrived. Orochimaru examined his tea critically and took an experimental sip. It wasn't quite sweet enough for his taste, but it would do. "And seen. He's always hesitant to take any kind of risk." The latter part was spoken with a darker tone, as the dark haired man recalled the failed bombing attempt and its consequences, further lowering the temperature around the two.

Kyuubi made a noncommittal noise at that. He shook his head. "He's playing with fire. He'll get burned soon enough." He cocked his head, and his eyes seemed brighter, lit by a strange inner flame. "And I'll be waiting when he does." He shot Orochimaru a curious glance then. "And what of you? They say Kimimaro was arrested, and is being held by the police. You should take better care of your kids. If you're busted I'll be out of a rival."

"False accusations. Completely unfounded. Besides, he's already been released." Yellow eyes seemed to somewhat proud of the fact, they both knew that it was much more complicated than that, of course. However, Orochimaru hadn't survived this long without having several aces up his sleeve. And, though he denied it, Kimimaro was the favorite of his pet assassins. He wasn't going to give him up.

"I'm surprised it took you so long. Normally, it's rare for one of yours to make it to a cell. I hope you're not losing your touch." Orochimaru's eyes lost their proud glint as quickly as it came.

There was silence for several minutes. Kyuubi stared thoughtfully into his coffee. He never drank the stuff, but there was something about the inky liquid that… calmed him. "He's leaving." Kyuubi didn't look up to see if Orochimaru was listening. "Probably soon."

"That's to be expected. Will you be following?" Yellow eyes stared at the other man. Kyuubi made a face.

"No. What he does now is his problem. I'm not going to baby-sit him." Crimson eyes closed with something akin to resignation. "And whether he deserves to be or not, he's the father. It's perfectly natural for Naruto to choose him over me."

"How very noble of you. If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't bitter." Orochimaru lifted his cup to his lips and took a sip, trying to adopt a regal air. He half succeeded, which he considered an accomplishment seeing that it was extremely difficult to make anything look regal in front of Kyuubi. "I, on the other hand, have a vested interest in keeping Minato in one piece. And it would be best for me to leave for a while after the police realize how far this goes. Let things settle down a bit. I trust you will look after things while I'm gone?"

"Of course. Otherwise I'd be out of a rival." Kyuubi's tone was brisk, matter-of-fact, and Orochimaru didn't doubt it. It was odd, perhaps, that two people in their line of work would trust each other- if only to a point. But the two had known each other for a long, long time. And both knew secrets that the other wished to keep hidden. It was an unconventional relationship. "I take it this 'vested interest' involves Anko, yes? She still hasn't forgiven you, you know."

"How very perceptive of you. I'm surprised you keep in touch with her. The last time I saw you two together, I wasn't sure if everyone would make it out alive." A smirk. As always, Orochimaru betrayed nothing of his true feelings on anything. It was one of the few advantages he had over the redhead, despite the following temperature drop immediately after the sentence.

"Exactly." Kyuubi's grin reached his eyes for the first time in genuine amusement. "The girl's got a backbone. That's more than I can say about most humans." He glanced at the clock briefly. "If you're going to be busy with preparations I take it we won't be meeting again for a while."

Orochimaru sighed, "No. We won't. But I'll be back. And I'll be finishing what Minato started since he'll probably screw it up. If he hasn't already." The pale crimelord grimaced and downed the last of his tea. Kyuubi didn't respond. Orochimaru set his cup down with a final thump and waved a waitress over for his bill. He paid silently, with cash, and, after a moment's contemplation, took the basket of pastries with him on his way out.

* * *

Sasuke had never thought that time could possibly move this slowly. He was sure the hands on the clock in front of him actually stopped at one point. So sure, in fact, that he had given the thing a good whack to get it started again. As soon as the thing hit eight o'clock he was out of there, no matter how much paperwork was left to be done. Really, Fugaku and Itachi should be grateful he'd agreed to help them with it to begin with. The duo currently had "far more pressing matters to deal with", and "as you're not directly involved with this bombing, Sasuke, you should be able to take care of things for a while."

He wanted to punch whoever first invented delegating. Even he had to admit, though, that the incident was odd. The stories that had reached him reported that Deidara, who was to be arrested for illegal possession of explosives, had grown a pair of wings and flown off while the police were occupied with the bomber. This was, of course, patently ridiculous, and Sasuke was quite interested in hearing what had really happened. Especially since his father had personally taken charge of the investigation. Doing fieldwork. That just didn't happen.

And he hadn't seen Itachi since before school. He frowned, signing the next paper without really seeing it. It couldn't be easy, finding out that a close friend could be a criminal. He wondered how his brother was taking the news, and the subsequent interrogation he was no doubt undergoing this very minute. He doubt Itachi had notice anything suspicious- even Sasuke admitted that his brother was downright paranoid about most things. He would have told their father if he suspected something.

He signed the last paper in his brother's pile and turned to the much more intimidating one beside it. Sasuke eyed it warily, sure it that the towering thing couple topple at the slightest disturbance. Deciding the need to brace himself a bit more before starting this one.

The computer beeped just as he'd started to get up, and Sasuke realized that he'd forgotten about his conversation with Naruto, via MSN, much to his father's distaste. Fugaku didn't think that police computers should be defiled with common chat programs. Sasuke smirked – it had actually been very funny watching his reaction.

He sat down again and read the message. Naruto was working on his own paperwork, and had decided that the best way to cheer both of them up was to exchange stories from the workplace. It was…fun, complaining with someone else. Sasuke had never done it before, thinking it inappropriate to bad-mouth his family's business. He sighed as he typed back a response. That whole family was a horribly bad influence on him.

Speaking of bad influences, there was a folder sticking out at an odd angle from the middle of his father's pile, as if someone had stuck it in there as an afterthought. That was odd. His father was usually careful to keep all his work in perfect order. Sasuke knew it was really none of his business, but as he reached forward to push it all the way into the pile he hesitated. One look won't hurt, a small voice that sounded suspiciously like Minato whispered in his head. A little curiosity is perfectly healthy.

Pushing aside any further doubts (he kept getting the feeling that he was going to regret this), Sasuke carefully slipped the folder out of the pile and flipped it open. The topmost report immediately caught his eye- it was written by his father- on the bombing that had taken place a couple days ago. Sasuke skimmed it, as anything important enough to warrant the chief's investigation was bound to be interesting. Then he frowned. His father seemed to operate under the assumption that the hackers were responsible for the explosion. And yet Sasuke, who was in charge of that investigation, had heard nothing of this theory. Besides, what motivation could they have to do such a thing, Fugaku mentioned revenge, but that made no sense, and desperation. What did his father know that he didn't?

He put the report aside and went through the rest of the folder. More reports, many from people Sasuke had never even heard of before. And a picture. He picked it up, hardly believing what he was seeing. It was dark, as if the photographer hadn't had time to get the lighting right. But the slightly blackened piece of paper in the center of the photo was easy enough to see, as was the writing on it.

* * *

_We didn't want to kill anyone, but we can't let you make any more like us._

_Forgive us,_

_Zodiac Viruses_

* * *

Well… that explained the connection to the hackers. But why had nobody told him about this? What did they mean, "more like us"? What else had happened that he didn't know about? That question was more than a little unsettling.

He jumped at the loud beep from his computer. It was Naruto, of course, but Sasuke didn't even read the message that other boy had sent. He typed back that he was sorry but had to go. He needed to speak with Itachi.

Had he thought about it, he might have realized that the police had never made their name for the hackers public.

* * *

Kisame scratched the back of his neck and gave a loud sigh as he leaned against the wall of the police station. He was bored and irritated, and it was all Deidara's fault. How it was his fault, Kisame hadn't quite figured out yet, but the blond was still the reason he'd been dragged here for 'questioning'. Itachi had wandered off soon after he'd been released, leaving Kisame to wait for Anko. Sasori was far too sick to move, by all accounts, and she was trying to convince them that she could answer any questions they had about his relationship to Deidara. And she could be pretty persuasive when she wanted to be.

Naturally, no matter what happened, none of them were going to admit to knowing that Deidara was anything but normal. And so far it looked like they were above suspicion. For how much longer, though, was anybody's guess. He just hoped that their leader had a plan. Preferably a good plan, because if the government hadn't known what the hackers were before, they certainly did now. Kisame was going to kill Deidara when this was all over.

The door to the makeshift interrogation room opened to let out a rather smug Anko, by two officers who told them they could leave.

"I'll drive you to Sasori's," Kisame offered absently, following her out the door. He glanced around once for Itachi, but, as usual, the Uchiha had disappeared. He didn't worry about it- they had a meeting in a half- hour and he knew Itachi wouldn't be late. It just wasn't done.

* * *

"Itachi." The elder Uchiha turned at his name, still holding the report he'd been skimming. He closed it at the look on his brother's face. "I need to talk to you."

Sasuke's face was anxious, preoccupied, and he led them at least ten feet from the building before he stopped. In the distance, Itachi thought he heard Kisame's truck start- no other vehicle could be that loud- but they were on the wrong side of the building to see it.

He turned to his brother and waited patiently for the other boy to start. It was obvious he'd come across something that he shouldn't have, and Itachi mentally reviewed possible excuses for their odd departure from the station. But how to bring up the subject?

"I..." Sasuke was half facing him, eyes on the ground, "I think Father is hiding something from me."

Ah. So his brother was began to understand. But what on earth had he found to shake his confidence in Fugaku? Itachi allowed that thought to put a puzzled expression on his face. "What makes you think that?"

The explanation was slow at first, as if he still wasn't quite sure about it, but quickly gained momentum. From the overheard conversation between Hiashi and Fugaku, to Genma's cryptic phone call, to Fugaku's recent odd behavior, and, finally, to the report folder. Itachi's eyes widened slightly as Sasuke described what he had seen and read in it. Had Tsunade put it there? Fugaku would never leave such incriminating evidence in plain sight.

Sasuke was looking at hin- waiting for an answer. An explanation. "I see.", he stalled, searching for words. "I'd like to see this folder, but it does sounds as though our father is hiding something."

"What should I-", Sasuke stopped and closed his eyes, gathering his wits. "What do you think we should do?"

"This is why I'm not a police officer." He should tell his brother to confront Fugaku, but he knew what would happen. "Maybe you should conduct an investigation of your own."

* * *

Orochimaru took his time. He sifted through papers, made more comments in the margins of papers, and, at one point, actually forgot the six teenagers standing in front of him. Only for a second, of course, while skimming the first few paragraphs of the new article on bio-engineering. He'd been thinking along those same lines with one of his experiments, after all, and to see someone else come to the same conclusion was gratifying. It meant less preparatory tests beforehand, now that he had something to build off of.

But that was for another time. He had called his... subordinates in for a reason, and they were getting restless. The glances at each other, and the shifting of positions, were discreet. And none of them would dare talk, even if he kept them waiting for over an hour. He had tested that himself, just a year into their training, and it had made him even more pleased with his ecquisitions.

"I assume you all know that I've called you here about Minato's little war." He flicked a glance at Kimimaro, standing apart from the other five. "He is not entirely stupid, and so he will be taking his group to one of his brother's private estates, out of the country. This unfortunate sibling has some in Russia and Canada, mostly because Minato dislikes the cold. Since Russia is on the same continent, their brilliant leader will assume it is easier to get to and go to Canada instead. Likely using those helicopters he purchased several days ago." That had actually been the crime lord's first hint that the CEO would be leaving. Minato had an annoying habit of acting unpredictable under pressure.

Once he'd acted, though, he was anything but. Orochimaru gave a small smirk as he pictured the outcome of the blond's latest scheme. "The helicopters, of course, will not have enough fuel to take him all the way across the ocean, and so he will crash land on the nearest boat." He paused, "The nearest _luxurious _boat, probably belonging to the aforementioned brother. Once he takes over the boat and lands in Canada, he will realize he is on the wrong side of the country. They'll probably hitchhike the rest of the way.

"Naturally, I'm not about to let him that far out of my sight, and so we will be taking a plane shortly after he leaves. Until then, you are to quietly oversee his retreat. I do not wish for Minato to be caught just yet."

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 8 1/2- Cafes and Birdbrains- ending program...

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger-? Age-? Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-? Age-? Program-?

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep-Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog-? Age-? Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader-? Age-? Program-?

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi


	9. 8 22 The Shadow Watches

Well, the second half of ZV chapter 8 is here. Editor-sama and I reread the first couple chapters of this and we sorta laughed at how far it's come. This one of my oldest fics and the easiest way to compare how far my writing skills, and Editor-sama's patience, has come. Amazing what can happen over three years.

RBMIfan: As another note, we have officially decided to rewrite the first three chapters, and touch-up chapters 4-6. They should be better when we're done, so you'll all have to go and reread them.

Starting… Opening… Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 8 2/2- The Shadow Watches- launching program…

Sasuke had to admit; Minato's reception office was quite cozy, despite, or because of, the downpour outside. It occurred to him that the secretary might like him better if he had dried off before sitting on the couch. Knowing Minato, said couch had probably cost several thousand dollars.

It seemed out of place in a room with marble flooring and a desk straight out of Star Trek, but that only confirmed whose office this was. Now if only the secretary would stop glaring at him and let him see Minato, all would be well. Sasuke briefly considered leaving and coming back when Naruto was here- the desk with the orange mouse pad was probably his- but he'd already been waiting an hour. If he left, he was admitting that he'd wasted part of his day.

Someone else came in, cool and professional and in an expensive suit, and the secretary was all smiles. He went right in, not even sparing a glance at the teenager on the couch. Sasuke's hand clenched. If these people knew what his family name was they'd think twice before dismissing him. He imagined the look on the secretary's face is he told her, and it coaxed a small smile to his face. But no… that would get back to his father. Fugaku would never approve of his son consorting with Minato, and Sasuke didn't want the lecture.

So he pulled out his cell phone, flipped it open, and silently thanked Minato for giving him his phone number. He wasn't used to texting, so it probably took much longer than it should have to type out '_are you busy?' _He closed the phone, but kept it in his hand, ignoring the look the secretary gave it.

An answer came less than a minute later. _'…That would depend on why you're asking.' _

_'According to you secretary- Not Naruto; the mean one- you've been in a meeting for the past hour. Your couch is very nice, though.' _He didn't bother to close the phone this time, figuring that Minato was a faster typer than him.

_'You've been spending far too much time around Naruto. I'll be out in a moment.'_ Sure enough, within seconds of receiving the message Sasuke saw the great oaken doors swing open. The Uchiha closed his phone with a snap and stood to greet the CEO.

Minato strode regally across the room- _walking _was far too mundane to be contemplated- and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Sasuke! What a delightful surprise! Please, come in. What brings you to my humble abode?" He gently, but firmly, steered his guest toward the office and hurried behind. As he passed her desk, Sasuke flashed the secretary an "I told you so" smirk.

The doors slammed shut behind them and Minato's grin changed to mock seriousness. "Just so we're clear, I didn't do it."

Sasuke smiled in spite of himself. "This has nothing to do with the police." He hoped the resulting sigh of relief was exaggerated. "It's a little more… delicate. Would you mind helping me with something, Minato?"

The blond blinked at him for a moment, then grinned widely. "Well, well. The son of the police chief, asking _me _for assistance. This _is _an honour. Come on." Minato led them down an unreasonably large hall to his office, a spacious room furnished similar to the waiting room, only to tinted blue. And, Sasuke noted, it was organized. Very organized. Surprisingly organized. Cabinets were closed and clearly labeled, placed off in a corner of the room. A bookshelf sat against the wall across from them, with a pillow-laden couch beside it. Between the shelf and the cabinets was a large wooden desk, also neatly organized, with stacks of paper and a rather sleek monitor taking up most of the surface. A brilliant silver chandelier hung overhead, but didn't seem to provide more than a dim light. Minato ushered Sasuke into one of the stuffed chairs in front of the desk, before taking a seat himself behind said desk.

"So," he began, leaning forward and resting his chin on steepled fingers, "what brings a respectable teenager like you to an honest businessman like me? I'm sure Asuma misses you answering all the questions in class." Sasuke refrained from asking how the CEO knew who his fifth period teacher was. "Your father finally cracked? An army of fangirls found out where you live? There's mutants running around driving you crazy, and your brother is just laughing behind your back?"

Sasuke stared at the man for a long moment, thinking that perhaps coming to him for advice had been a bad idea, after all. The teen paused, trying to find words for his dilemma. "I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that." He ignored the horrified look the blond gave him. "In fact, it might not be… entirely legal."

He stopped when the blond held up a hand. "I refuse to continue this conversation without a significant amount of caffeine in my system." He pressed what Sasuke had assumed to be some sort of fancy penholder, causing a small table, complete with espresso machine, cups and various condiments, to rise from the floor beside Minato's chair. Sasuke wasn't exactly sure where it had come from, as that particular section of the floor was hidden by the desk, but he was very sure that he shouldn't be this surprised. Minato had selected two mugs and was calmly preparing them- putting, Sasuke noticed with unease, just the right amount of crème (no sugar) in the second cup that the teen liked. Minato pushed the cup across the table and began sipping his own. "Now you can continue."

Sasuke sighed and reached for his cup. "I believe that my father is withholding important information from me. I don't know why, but it's relevant to my case. The police have no reason to keep it from me. I've thought about it quite a bit, and I want to launch an investigation of my own. Without my father's knowledge." He paused, gauging the blond's reaction, then continued. "You said you had an information network."

The CEO stared at the teen, leaning back into his chair with a slow motion. Cerulean eyes were much sharper than they were a minute ago, almost calculating, and the sudden change blindsided Sasuke. For a moment, he began to believe the rumours about the blond. Uncertainty crept in the raven's stomach as the silence stretched out. The cool, piercing gaze of Minato never wavered. Had he over stepped? It occurred to Sasuke, suddenly, that he really didn't know very much about Minato. And suddenly what he _did _know- the idiot who dreamt of World Domination and slacked off from work- was gone. Namikaze Minato, the CEO of Konoha INC, one of the singularly most powerful companies in the world, suddenly looked very much like his title implied. And suddenly Sasuke felt very, very small.

Minato took a sip of coffee, focusing his attention on the motion, and Sasuke found himself able to let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "I haven't trusted the police for years," the older man said almost absently. The raven glanced up at the tone, noting the way the blond was staring in his drink. Minato looked up, and regarded his guest with a solemn gaze. "You understand what you are asking, correct? Once you're in, even if it's an inch, you can't back out. You can't question, or search for, where the Intel comes from. You can't abuse the knowledge. And above all," the gaze changed to an expression Sasuke had yet to see on the blond: threatening, "you don't tell anybody _anything _about the network."

The tone the CEO used reminded the Uchiha of the lectures Fugaku use to give him as a child, only far colder and even more dangerous. Sasuke hesitated for a moment. Did he really understand what he was getting into? But this was the only way he could think of to find out what was going on. "I understand."

Silence descended, and the blond seemed to mull over how to proceed. Or how he could kick the teen out without being rude. Or something else entirely: Sasuke couldn't tell. He had always prided himself on being able to read other people, although not as well as his brother could. But he was startled to realize he couldn't read Minato at all right now. He wondered, really, whether he'd ever been able to. At length, Minato seemed to come to a decision. He pulled out a piece of paper in a brisk, business-like fashion, and continued speaking. "You'll be restricted in some areas for a variety of reasons. Otherwise, everything is at your disposal."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He shoved the nervousness aside with practiced ease, in a way that could only come with working with the police; he had, after all, never dealt with a businessman of a Minato's level before. Wording was very important: only a fool would ignore it. While he trusted Minato's word, loopholes were a businessman's best friend. "Will I know if I'm being restricted?"

"Naturally." Minato's gaze was no longer cold, only curious.

"What does 'everything' mean?" That word was far too vague. 'Everything' of what? What was meant by 'restrictions'? This could be a real pain to work out.

A light glinted in the blonde's eyes, though Minato soon hid it behind interlocked hands. "My network works in ranks. In general, to receive information of a certain rank you must give information of equal or higher rank. You'd know the rank equivalent to the Intel before you either gave or received it." Minato paused, eyeing the teen. "But, because I like you, you can bypass the whole equivalent exchange and receive a B-rank pass."

"Ranks?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"In this order from not-so secret to super secret, D, C, B, A, S. I'm the only one who has access to S." The knowledge was stored away and Sasuke mulled over the concept. Minato cocked his head. "Now I have a question for you. What will you do if you can't get the information you need?"

Sasuke carefully schooled his face like his brother had taught him. Impossibly blank, emotionless in every sense of the word. "Do you mean as in your network doesn't have it, or," he paused, watching the blond, "you don't want me knowing it?"

Minato smirked. "Both."

The raven took a sip of coffee, watching the CEO over the rim of his mug. "You make it sound as though you're my only connection." Minato actually blinked at that, his smirk faltering, before he recomposed himself. Sasuke felt rather proud to have thrown the blond off balance. After all, the CEO no longer held all the cards, so long as he never found out it was a bluff.

The blond recovered quickly as if nothing had happen, a skill he probably developed in meetings. There was a moment of silence as Minato returned to mulling the request over, "Alright, I'll let you use my network."

"Thank you, Minato." The blond waved Sasuke's gratefulness, instead he searched for a scrap piece of paper. Grabbing a pen the CEO began scribbling something.

"You now have a dinner plans with Naruto and I, at this restaurant tomorrow. Arrive sometime near 8, and we'll talk in detail." The sheet was handed over, and Sasuke memorized the address, "Now, you better be getting back to school before someone realizes you aren't in the nurse's office. Not that that particular excuse is very believable in the first place. After all, you haven't had so much as a cold since you were two."

Apparently he'd truly lost his mind. Sasuke was no longer fazed with Minato knowing everything about his life. In fact he wasn't even bothered with the notion. If Sasuke wanted to throw the Minato off balance he could ask the man if he knew what Sasuke's future was. However, that would probably come back to bite him, and Naruto would probably not be amused about him placing ideas into the billionaire's head. "You're right. Later then, Minato."

Sasuke had just reached the door, his hand barely grasping the handle, when the CEO called out. "Sasuke." He turned slightly, "for the record, you'd make a great businessman."

* * *

The base seemed hollow with so many of their members missing. Only the elder hackers remained, loitering around the various tiers of computers. They, unlike their younger counterparts, had the ability to keep still for prolonged periods of time without protest. Of course, that trait might have been born out of necessity.

As it stood now, two, potentially three, of their members had been compromised. Deidara's compromise was obvious. Neji's wasn't. The police had learned from Deidara's escape, and now the Hyuuga was sure his phone had been tapped. He and Hinata had also had several attempted hacks on their computer systems. A futile move on the police's part, even if they were on the right track, trying to take down the hackers' best _defensive _programmers. They hadn't even gotten past the first level of the Hyuuga duo's ten-level firewall. If nothing else, the Hyuuga know how to protect their privacy.

However, that also meant they had a lack of communication with those three; a quarter of their organization and the defense players. Deidara had already been by, and didn't want to stay around long enough to risk seeing the Leader, informing them that they "didn't have to pretend so well, un!" Even if, yes, they _did_ have to pretend that well. Convincing the police that you hadn't known your best friend had _wings_, and built bombs in his spare time, wasn't as simple as the blond seemed to think.

The younger hackers were all busy. Itachi had even bothered to double check, and they'd all given various excuses ("Oh shit! I have track!"; "Temari and Kankuro are suspicious enough without me disappearing"; "I _will_ kill you, Uchiha, if you get between me and my date."). Thus, it was the perfect time to have meeting with their Leader without their weakest links protesting. After all, what good were they to their cause if they didn't want to get dirty for it? The younger ones would understand that eventually.

The table the meeting was to be held at was located on the lowest tier, lit by a single bulb that casted shadows everywhere, with concrete walls walling it in. Stairs cut through the middle of one the walls, leading up to the doors with various tiers branching off to mazes of computers, screens, desks and the various subsequent wire jungles. At the head of the aforementioned table, where Itachi normally sat, was a neat pile of file folders they'd all prepped for the Leader's visit.

It was rare for the Leader to do so, either to give punishment or rewards, and they could only hope that he had some sort of plan to fix the mess they were currently in. After all, the man _had_ managed to track them all down, when none of them had wanted to be found, and convince them of this cause. Quite a feat considering most of them had mastered the art of blending in.

Now, though, Fugaku knew about them. He also had the proof that they were all _very _aware of what had been done to them and who was responsible. Someone really had to teach Deidara about what constituted a _proper_ hiding spot for explosives. The Birdbrain.

Itachi finished texting to his brother (texting being something Sasuke had only recently discovered the joys of), explaining that he would not be home in time for supper and where the leftovers were. Closing his phone, and checking the time as he did so, he flicked it off. Only a few minutes left before the Leader made his appearance, and then their court of hackers would be brought into session.

It would take a move of certified genius to make everything come together smoothly; with things the way they were at the moment it seemed unlikely that anything would happen the in the way they wanted. One more screw-up, like focusing just on the police and not on their classmates, and the cuffs might as well be weighing down on their wrists. They should have considered that Deidara had fangirls, and the possible consequences of that. He wasn't the only one who had admirers, either. The only thing working in their favor, really, was the fact the majority of them qualified as prodigies. But there was a fine line between genius and insanity, and most of them danced dangerously close to it. Their Leader? He _was_ the line.

The door slammed against the wall, startling everyone present as they realized their leader was standing beside Itachi's usual chair. It was unnerving how easily the Leader could sneak up on them. It was almost as if he could will people not to notice him. The man picked up the papers on the table without a word, as his 'veteran' hackers slowly filtered down the stairs and into their respective seats.

He flipped the first file open, sitting down while reading it, still ignoring the teenagers present. The file the man currently had opened was a list of all the companies they had "attacked." The second, smaller file was which of the previous companies had noticed they were being hacked. The third file was the smallest, containing which hacks the police cyber-squad had responded to. The fourth file had a detailed commentary on each 'job,' citing techniques and strategies that could be improved and what their spying expeditions had turned up.

Nearly a full half-hour later the files were finally shut, with a sharp slap, and everyone flinched instinctively at the sound. With a careless gesture, the Leader threw the files back onto the table. "Whoever sees Iwa next has my full permission to forcefully remind him _why_ mistakes this late in the game are not welcome. The Aburame have been generous enough to house Iwa and whoever else is compromised. The Hyuuga will more than likely be joining him. And I think we should be generous to Aburame, as gratitude for putting up with our village idiot."

That lightened the mood of the room considerably and their Leader knew it. He smiled faintly and the hackers breathed a little easier. "Well, other than our cover almost being blown, you all have done well." They couldn't tell if the man was being sarcastic or not. He glanced around the table. "I see attendance is sparse today."

"The younger members of our group have other commitments, it seems," Itachi spoke from his seat to the right of the Leader. His dismissive tone caused the older man to raise an eyebrow. Itachi noticed. "The meeting will run more smoothly without them, I think. Not everyone appreciates the gravity of this situation."

The Leader merely nodded an acknowledgement. "I see. You're referring to the bombing, of course." Itachi nodded, and the Leader closed his eyes. "I've already gotten an earful about that from Naruto." He paused. "Perhaps we _did_ go too far."

"You did what you thought you had to. None of us questions that decision." Sasori spoke up seriously.

"If you ask me, it was their own fault for trying to continue the project. You think they'd have learned after last time, but..." Kisame shrugged dismissively.

The Leader gave a small smile. "Good to see that I still have some support. So. The only question remaining is what we do next."

It was a rhetorical question, as far as the others were concerned. There was no way the Leader would go so long without a back up plan, after all. The only reason he even bothered to ask was just to see what they would come up with on their own. Anko was the first to speak, kick starting the conversation. "It's kinda obvious we need to disappear. The quicker the better."

"Where? Heading to the Underground is out." Kisame leaned against his chair, water bottle in hand. "Unless we'd like to test our luck."

Sasori coughed harshly, a reminder to all that even after two weeks of rest he still wasn't up to par with his health, and the redhead wrapped his jacket even tighter around him. "It's not a jail sentence if we stay with someone in the Underground. We _are _giving one of our own to a Yakuza family, after all. We could always hide with Momochi and his brat."

"That wouldn't work. Baki has his entire department tracking down Crimelords, and they already suspect our ties to one of them. He has every major player on the bulletin board in his office. The moment we stepped into that arena, he would know." Itachi opened his eyes to regard his companions. "Baki is no fool."

"Well, we can't exactly stay here. Either way the police will find us eventually." Anko polished off another of the dango sticks she had brought with her, flinging the empty stick across the table. Kisame idly dodged the flying wood, allowing it to finish the picture of a coiled snake on the wall behind him. Beside Anko, Sasori raised a brow and made a comment about how the tongue was off. Purple eyes blinked, squinted at the picture before frowning deeply.

"Back on track, why not head to the countryside? Or, better yet, jump country." Kisame took a gulp of water, "Like somewhere in the tropics, for example. With sunshine, warm beaches, and those funny coloured drinks with the little umbrellas in them."

"Too bad we aren't old enough to drink." Sasori coughed quietly and Anko snickered.

"I think under-age drinking would be the least of our problems." Itachi spoke with an airy tone, more or less ignoring the conversation.

Like Itachi, the Leader seemed to also ignoring the debate between the three teens. His statement, however, suggested otherwise. "No worries about that. Your I.D's are already made. Congratulations on making it to nineteen. What kind of cars would you like?" There was a pause, "And no drinking and driving. Use a designated driver, ya hooligans." He gave a lopsided grin.

"Nineteen? Why nineteen? Where are we going?" Anko blinked.

"Canada." Their Leader regarded them all smugly, immediately holding up his hand to silence them. "Of course, we could also go to Russia. Both countries have large landmasses and it's not uncommon for people to disappear into the untamed wilderness. It also helps that we have someone capable of carrying stuff, like food, via flight. Though the food packaging would have to be idiot-proofed before hand."

"And I suppose the fact that the North American and Eurasia divisions of Konoha INC are based in Canada and Russia, respectfully, has absolutely no impact at all on your decision?" Itachi's face was completely impassive as he made the comment.

Sasori rolled his eyes as he continued where Itachi left off. "Let me guess. We'll be staying in whatever mansion the owner of those divisions happens to be living in at the time; purely by coincidence, of course."

Itachi glanced at the man, expression blank, and deadpanned. "I'm surprised he still talks to you, actually. The last time you met him you nearly sent the man to the hospital." He paused for a moment. "He _does_ still talk to you, right?"

Minato scowled at the two older hackers. "Like I told him, it was a misunderstanding. How was I to know that the paparazzi would be there? He can't honestly still be mad about that."

Anko twitched slightly. "Don't you think the fact he's been ignoring you for the past eight years might be a clue?"

The leader waved it off. "My brother wouldn't leave us out in the cold; his wife wouldn't let him. Everyone knows she has him whipped." They knew when he started grinning that there was nothing they could say that would change his mind.

"Namikaze Minato, you are insane." The blond nodded absently in agreement and stood.

"Regardless of my sanity, prep this base for the move. We can't take anything with us so plan accordingly. Just know that I want everything covered. The move will take place in, at the latest, the end of the month. For now bide your time and _wait_. Don't do anything stupid." He met all of their gazes levelly at that. "Let the others know about the move when you see them next."

Kisame waited until the man was out of the room to speak up, crossing his arms. "_Canada? _I said the _tropics_, where it's _warm_. But no, let's go to the 'land of ice and snow. And better yet, let's go in _winter_."

* * *

Naruto was perfectly still; his form reclined back into the teacher's chair. If one didn't see the steady rise and fall of chest one might mistake the boy for dead. The blond wasn't the only one in this strange trance; all around him other hackers were equally still. They rarely met outside of school time or when they were hacking together. Today was the exception.

The classroom currently acting as the meeting place belonged to a teacher none of them had met before. Ideally, they wouldn't have even met inside school grounds; however, this was the only location they could find on short notice. Lighting was limited, on purpose, with the closed blinds allowing their companion to appear with ease.

She didn't disappoint. On the floor, in front of the chalkboard, the shadow of the teacher's desk flickered, morphing and contracting in shape. As if a spell had been broken, the younger hackers left their trance, eyes trained on the shifting shadow. The shadows pooled together and lifted into a form before falling back to its proper place on the floor.

Hinata opened her eyes, face grave. "They went ahead with the meeting." Her quiet voice carried over the classroom, practically booming in their ears.

Silence fell sharply, and with it a certain tenseness. Surprisingly it was Gaara, sitting on the window-still, who asked the question they were all thinking. "What was discussed?" With her same quiet tone, Hinata carefully replayed what she had heard. Taking caution not to skip anything, beginning with the leader's entrance.

The group lapsed back into silence, mulling over what had been heard. "Did they know you were there, Hinata?" Shikamaru leaned back in his chair among the sea of desks, pulling his earring idly.

Hinata shook her head, "No. But I think Anko noticed something was… off in the room. She kept throwing dango sticks into the shadow beside me, almost hitting me." The Hyuuga's eyes were focused on the tiles beneath the desks, "But Anko has always had that habit."

"I have faith in your skills, Hinata." Naruto leaned his head back until all he saw was the ceiling. Sitting beside Shikamaru, Chouji spoke up.

"So, we're heading to Canada? Does that mean we pack sweaters?"

Neji snorted. "No. It means we pack T-shirts. Of _course_ we'll need sweaters." He sighed a bit, and the sarcastic tone left his voice. "In any case, we're not supposed to know about it yet. It's best not to tip off the others that we've been spying on them."

Naruto briefly eyed the Hyuuga standing against the far wall, not bothering to move anything other than his head. "I hate to admit it, but Neji's right." The blond returned to staring at the ceiling. "But the real problem is how many secret meetings have they had together before now."

Shikamaru groaned in what might have been agreement. He rested his head against the hard surface of the desk, muffling his next comments. "It'd be like them to plot behind our backs, and we've already heard how highly they think of our opinions. Talk about a pain."

"I can't believe our leader would side with them over us. Minato always seemed so nice. But what can we do? I mean, they would notice if we hacked the computers." Ino frowned, her comment held the attention of all in the room.

"Why not track their cell phone calls? See if we can watch their incoming and outgoing e-mails while we're at it." Naruto sat up, now fiddling with some pens on the desk.

Shikamaru raised a brow, the idea filtering through the mother computer that was his brain. "They wouldn't have to be perfect, just good enough so nobody would notice."

"Which means they need to be perfect." Neji's comment was ignored.

"We get new computers. Create new programs. Watch what we say. We can no longer take what Itachi, Kisame, Anko, Sasori, Deidara or Minato say at face value. They must be watched constantly." Gaara eyed them with one eye, his monotone never faltering. "It is nothing we can't handle." The redhead turned back to the window, watching the students mulling around outside through slits in the blinds.

"Are you sure? I mean, yeah, I don't like what's been happening lately. But they're not our enemies, right? We're all on the same side. It's just a disagreement." Chouji looked each hacker in the face as he asked this. Hinata nodded quietly, and even Shikamaru and Neji looked depressed at the thought. Naruto's face was impassive.

"I agree with Gaara." The teens turned to their impromptu leader, now sitting properly "Even if they're not our enemies, we'll never know if we don't check. I'll watch Minato. His computers are already bugged. Neji, Hinata you guys are our resident spymasters, mind heading our Intel gathering? At worst you'll be up against Sasori and Anko. For now, keep a low profile."

Naruto was still sitting in the same spot over a half an hour later, long after the others had left. All but one. With a light leap, Gaara was off of his perch and walking down the aisle separating the rows. He halted before the desk, his friend still staring at the ceiling. "Naruto." Cerulean eyes glanced at the redhead. "Why have you already hacked Minato's computer?"

"Because," there was a pause, "the moron's been goofing off at work. I'm making a file to present to the head secretary."

Had Gaara been anyone else he might have found the excuse acceptable. But Naruto was a…friend. He'd known the blond since they were both five. It was more than enough time to learn someone's habits, such as Naruto's habit of clenching his hands when he was truly angry. Or how he avoided eye contact whenever he attempted to lie.

Like now.

Instead, Gaara leaned against the only door, arms crossed and jade eyes unwavering as he stared at the blond. It was a risky move, placing himself in front of the exit, but it managed to get his message across. Gaara wasn't the only one to know someone for over a decade.

Naruto silently weighed his options. Apparently he wasn't leaving until he told his friend what he wanted to hear. Of course, he could always try for the window.

"Don't." A warning. Sometimes Gaara knew him too well. Waves clashed against stone as Naruto stood up, hands in his pockets. "You might as well tell me." The silent, 'or else' was loud in Naruto's ears. There was no point in dancing with death now.

"My mom's parents have been trying to get in contact with me for several years now." The answer was in a casual tone, suggesting there was another variable in affect. Naruto was never casual.

"Grandparents?" His tone held curiosity, coupled with vague disbelief. Naruto had once mused that both were beyond Gaara.

"Yeah. I found out a while ago." Blue eyes darkened dramatically, and Naruto seemed more feral. His irises were slowly streaked with red, giving them a purple-ish hue. "And according to what Minato's been telling them, I apparently _don't _want to meet them and would like for them not to "bother" me again."

Gaara blinked once, and averted his eyes from the crimson hell lurking in the blond's.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Sasuke stared at the files sitting innocently on his desk, disbelief running through his veins. All the windows in his room, and the door, had been locked on his way out in the morning. They were all still locked, yet there was something new in the room from the last time he had been here. With some difficulty, the Uchiha kept his composure.

Having set his backpack against the wall with a small 'thump', Sasuke sat down at the desk, face impassive. There was another moment dedicated to staring. His conversation with Minato a few days ago came back full force. If his family ever found out about him even _knowing _the CEO it could estrange him.

The raven had been warned, though, and Minato had been quite clear about just where the line had been drawn. There was still time. He could return the file unopened, and go on with his life. Once he crossed the line there would be no going back. That line was on his desk, waiting patiently for his decision.

Steeling his nerves, Sasuke broke the seal of a folder and began his search.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 8 2/2- The Shadow Watches- ending program...

The

Zodiac

Viruses

And

Police

List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger- Gaara Age-14 Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-Neji Age-15 Program- Byakugan, Kaiton

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse-? Age-? Program-?

Sheep- Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog- Naruto Age-14 Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader- Minato Age- 36 Program-?

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi


	10. The Strangest of Betrayals

Haven't finished rewriting chapter 3, or touching up the other chapters between 4 and 6. RMBIfan and I have agreed on what drabbles to post and they will be following soon (I actually mean it this time).

Starting… Opening… Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 9- The Strangest of Betrayals- launching program…

They would be leaving their country in a matter of days; of this Kyuubi was certain. All the signs were present: the sudden drop in reported hacks, Orochimaru's disappearance and the Uchiha brat currently blocking his light. Really, mortals had no sense of self-preservation to speak of. It was either that, or this particular mortal was insane. Which was highly probable considering his chosen leader. What creature willingly followed that bastard _unless _they were insane?

Regardless, he was there, in Kyuubi's office, going against the grain by bugging one of the most powerful demons east of Satan. He was also not getting the hint that Kyuubi was ignoring him. Which made him either dense or confident. By the proud stance he had, Kyuubi was leaning towards the concept that he was both, and insane. Not even 6 in the morning and it was already shaping up to be a long day.

Signing off on another shipment of stolen relics, the kitsune figured that if he wanted the brat out of his office he'd better be blunt. Uchiha usually came with a nasty set of traits, including but not limited to stubbornness, arrogance, and a down right pain the butt holier-than-thou personality. Unless properly heeled, like a good dog, of course. Kyuubi glanced at the paper he was writing, a cursed contract for the buyer of one of his relics that would kill him if he told anyone where he got the item from, "Get out of my office."

"No." There wasn't even a pause in the reply. Really, the brat had no respect for his superiors. If Kyuubi had been a bad mood there'd be nothing but charred ashes where the teen stood. "I need you to do something."

Kyuubi's pen halted, the ink pooling beneath the nib, forever ruining the paper, and some of his demonic aura flooded the room. Ruby eyes stared at the pool as he processed the demand. Not a plea, not a favour, not even a request. A demand. He hadn't encountered this level of insubordination since…well, since a certain blond CEO. The introduction of the aura didn't deter the human standing in front of his cluttered desk.

"Watch over Sasuke." When he stopped to think about it, though, it was actually rather amusing. And it would be a nice distraction to put a human in his place. With deliberate slowness, the demon raised his tanned face to glare at the teen.

He breathed deeply- transforming here would be considered a bad thing. It would ruin his paperwork and the task of removing blood always annoyed his minions. "You aren't familiar with the food chain around here, are you?" The statement didn't faze the teen, so Kyuubi continued, "At the top is me, a high ranking demon. Feet below that is the human royalty. A few more feet, skipping people who have changed the world, we have you. There is a few inches between you and your brother. At the very bottom, below the worms and phylum proferia, there is your leader."

The demon paused, slitted eyes watching for a reaction that never came. "You come here, into my base, with no bargaining chip to speak of, and demand something of me?" He snorted loudly, as if amused by the notion, leaning back into his chair. "Your head is either on too tight or not tight enough, brat."

"Do you accept or not?" Itachi's expression never wavered. He still had that eerie, self-assured calmness plastered all over his face. It was enough to really irk the demon.

That brat obviously wasn't getting the picture. And, now that he thought about it, Kyuubi had some frustration to burn off.

The narrowing of Kyuubi's eyes was the only warning Itachi had. It took half a blink to have the demon out of his chair and pinning the Uchiha to the wall. A clawed hand wrapped firmly around the skinny his neck, and Kyuubi could feel the blood pumping through the artery under his finger. One of the tails from his tattoo coiled up his arm leading to the Uchiha's neck, as if pointing it out. The demon pressed his forearm against the boy's torso until the human could hear his ribs protesting the abuse. Normally this was the point where the mortal would die. Kyuubi himself wasn't adverse to the idea- in fact the thought of killing one of that man's favourite pets brought a rare smile to his face. But no. He would trace the murder back to Kyuubi, if only from the complete lack of clues, and that would make things difficult. No doubt he'd jump on the chance to inform Naruto of it, and right now that could seriously damage the boy's opinion of him. Best to wait.

To Itachi's credit he did not flinch: it was probably the only reason why he hadn't been disemboweled, angry cleaning crew be-damned. Nor did he try and free himself from Kyuubi's grasp, his hands remaining limp at his sides.

Leaning his head closer and lowering the Uchiha slightly, the kitsune glared straight into the boy's eyes while whispering darkly, "I suggest you learn some manners. Fast. Then rethink that question, because I can't tell you how easy it would be to snap your neck right now. And I promise you they would _never _find your body."

Kyuubi loosened his grip slightly to let the boy speak. The damned Uchiha's expression had yet to change, and despite the slight rasp his voice was steady. "Your point?"

There was a loud smack as the back of the teen's head hit the wall violently. When the boy focused back on the kitsune, Kyuubi replied. "_You _seem to think I'll stop there." Kyuubi brought his face closer, so that the boy could see the flecks of hellfire burning in ruby eyes. "I'm sure your brother's neck would snap just as easily as yours. I might even be kind enough to bury your bodies together."

That got a reaction, finally. Just not the one he was looking for. Ebony eyes changed, and a ring of crimson surrounding his pupils rippled outward like dye in black water until the entire iris was as red as Kyuubi's own. Only the three black tomoe, spinning lazily around, held the original shade of the eyes. Kyuubi hated when chimera pulled stunts like this. Itachi's pale, delicate hands grabbed Kyuubi's own and a battle of strength ensued, much to Kyuubi's amusement.

Then the kid was free, and the amusement died. One minute he'd had the brat in his grasp, his stone grip slowly crushing the Uchiha's windpipe, the next the teen was across the room, breathing fine. Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. An illusion? Chimera were dangerous creatures - as unpredictable as they were unnatural, but the power to create illusions belonged to fae and demons alone. A curious development. And possibly dangerous. The mortal's voice was a hiss as he glared at the demon. "If you so much as _consider _harming Sasuke, I'll kill both you and your minions."

He was dead serious. Kyuubi chuckled quietly, mocking the threat. "I've already considered it, haven't it? I hope you don't think that little trick will fool me twice."

"No. I don't. I wasn't planning on targeting you." It was the way he said it. It had Kyuubi's attention. Itachi had a thoughtful look on his face. "You'd sacrifice a great deal to keep Naruto safe, wouldn't you?"

There were many things Kyuubi made a point of never revealing to the world. His love for puzzles was one: a grand total of four people knew about that hobby. One was immortal, two weren't even aware of the power behind the knowledge and the last had… died. A very long time ago. The fact he would murder for Naruto was known to even fewer people. So either the brat had figured it out on his own, or Kyuubi had some house cleaning to do among those allies who were smart enough to piece it together. Either way, the brat knew something he shouldn't. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you, boy."

Kyuubi leaned back against his desk casually. He didn't honestly think Naruto was in danger. Itachi had no way of communicating with anyone who'd be keeping him hostage. Even so, Kyuubi had to give him credit. "You have one minute to explain your deal. Then you will turn around, walk out that door and never bother me again."

"Watch over Sasuke and protect him. It must be you, not one of your minions. This will only last until we return, and in exchange I owe you three favors. Anything you want me to do, so long as it does not directly or indirectly kill either Sasuke or me." Not even fifteen seconds to state everything. Damn. He'd come prepared.

Kyuubi mulled over the pros and cons of protecting a brat versus three favors from a chimera. That meant a long life time to collect, and even if the teen died Kyuubi could still call upon him via the Shinigami. "Constantly?" A nod. "And I suppose he doesn't know that he is like you." Another nod. Not a hint of fear, either. What a backbone, even if he was a human. "Alright. I agree on the condition that I watch him on my own terms. If I feel it's productive I'll… introduce myself."

The Uchiha stiffened and Kyuubi smirked. He'd accept the deal - he'd be foolish not to. It was the only one he'd get. Itachi seemed to realize this. "Agreed." He bowed once, quickly. "I'll take my leave, then. May we never meet in person again."

The demon snorted, "Once was more than enough for me." He gestured to the door with a glance. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

Once the click of the door was heard Kyuubi slipped once more behind his desk, previous good mood soured, intent on finishing his work. Honestly, if Itachi's brother – Sasuke, was it? – was anything like the elder Uchiha he really didn't need protection. After all, it was the Uchiha brat's pink haired partner who was in the most danger. Potentially fatal danger, if he knew Orochimaru. And he did.

But hey, that wasn't Kyuubi's problem.

* * *

The wind blew in through the windows, fluttering the curtains with the same breath it used to ruffle the sleeping boy's hair. He burrowed into the bed, away from the cool air. It let up for only a moment, before returning to tickling him mercilessly, until onyx eyes blinked open.

He rolled on to his back, watching the ceiling (non-descript as always), before sitting up with a groan and stretching to warm up muscles cramped from sleep. A testimony to how late he had stayed up last night… morning. He was pretty sure it had been morning by the time he'd gone to sleep. Sasuke vaguely remembered closing one of the files, hiding them all then collapsing on his bed.

His shirt had been thoroughly wrinkled in his sleep and the pants of his uniform were rumpled beyond a simple hour in the dryer. He felt like he hadn't had any sleep at all and his body showed it with its over all coordination being akin to rusted gears. A shower helped, waking him up and relaxing his muscles, and so did breakfast (leftovers, with a scribbled note from his brother).

After throwing on a carelessly chosen set of clothes, the Uchiha was ready to tackle the last file. Back at his desk, file having been retrieved, he cracked his neck once before carefully opening the folder. His eyes quickly honed in on the familiar penmanship of his father.

The first scan of the photocopied paper confirmed that it was actually written by Fugaku. The second scan caused dread to pool thickly in his stomach. Penned ink described a crime scene Sasuke had never been to, and it took several seconds for him to realize exactly what was in front of him. It was the police chief's own report on the bombing- one that no one, not even Sasuke, had been allowed to see.

His respect for Minato rose another notch.

The report was done to the standards Fugaku expected of his officers: entirely formal and to the point. Photos of the scene were copied by another camera. Nothing seemed out of place up until Sasuke lifted a photo to see it better and one of the papers slipped from the file folder, falling to the floor. He leaned down to pick it up, then stopped and stared at the note. Written on stationary, not standard to police work, Fugaku's neat writing was completely informal. It almost looked like a letter, except without any names or addresses.

* * *

_The bombing has only confirmed our fears. They are on the move. At this point in time I have no theories as to how they found each other, but we must always keep in mind that we had only just begun to grasp the potential of these chimera before the fire destroyed all that. We must assume that they have fully realized this potential, and that they intend to turn it on us. The creation turning on the creator, as it were._

_The bombs trace to the Underground. However, as we do not have any agents in the Underground we were unable to identify their creator. They are similar to several other explosives we have recovered over the years, all of which are equally untraceable. It is possible they come from the same source._

_We managed to locate and capture one of the chimera, briefly. He escaped before he could be brought to our facility. We were able to run DNA tests on the blood and tissue left behind when he was injured during the escape. They confirm his identity as one of the original test subjects. The results, of course, were altered for the official report._

_We will continue to focus our efforts on recapturing these rogue chimera, as well as monitoring the remaining ones for suspicious activity. (Note: the elder brother has a great deal of time that cannot be accounted for. The youngest is disappearing at a growing frequency. GPS tracking is strongly recommended)._

_For the betterment of the tree, the Roots will deal with this problem swiftly.

* * *

_

A clock ticked somewhere to the right, though Sasuke had never heard it so clearly before. Curtains floated in the breeze from the side window. His room was surreal in its tranquility. Even the Uchiha was still, his mind having all but shut down. Shock had jolted his system into a standstill.

With a steady hand that betrayed his state of mind, Sasuke reached for the desk dictionary beside his lamp. There was no conscious thought process as he flipped it opened, eyes searching word by word down the pages. Before he had begun this exploration, he hadn't really any need for the dictionary: he knew most words and their meanings, and those he didn't his brother did.

Bold, blocky letter sat beneath his fingertips, the definitions beside it. _**chimera**__: 1) An absurd creation of the imagination. 2) An imaginary grotesque monster.

* * *

_

The base was empty. No scattered papers. No flipped couches, or cots. The computers were all wiped; any important information was already transferred to laptops, and everything else was deleted. Down on the last tier the chairs were upside down on the table. The bulletin board was, for the first time since it was bought, clear of all messages.

On either side the cubicles were clear of any personal items, nothing to suggest who had been using them for the past six months. The computers in the cubicles were clean in a manner that not even professional cleaners could hope to achieve. All papers had been burned the pervious day, ashes then separated into three garbage cans ten blocks from each other on the other side of town. The floors were all swept and bleached, leaving them shining.

Anko glanced around, taking it all in. It reminded her of the first day she had seen this room. Clean and spotless, with not a trace of dirt to be seen. Too bad it had to go. A slight sigh escaped; Sasori would not be pleased when he found out about this.

Honestly, how the hell do you explain to your boyfriend that, from the ages of eight to fourteen, you'd been raised and trained by an ex-military man turned crime-lord? And what he taught was how to assassinate someone without any one noticing, how to create and use poison, how to fight, how to follow someone who was paranoid without them noticing, how to disappear into a crowd, and the art of setting up a bomb without blowing yourself to bits. That last bit was why she had been selected for this delicate process.

As much as she hated Deidara for what he had pulled, Anko was forced to admit, through gritted teeth, that he knew how to make a good explosion. The bombs were easy to set up- they were the kind he sold on the marketplace to whoever could afford them- and she was even whistling a tune as she used wire cutters and tape to assemble the thing.

According to Deidara, and she had to take his word on this, depending on she placed the bombs she could actually make the building collapse in on itself. So no other buildings would be damaged, and since the owner of this building was actually a false name belonging to the hackers themselves this would be the most ideal. They had used this place to build an income and as an alibi for the older hackers: all of whom worked there, with the noted exception of Itachi.

Everything was in order, the timer was set, and streets were deserted. There was always the possibility that someone would get hurt, but people took that chance every time they walked out their front door in the morning. She was sure to act normal on her way out, as if she was finishing up the last shift of the evening, and locked the door behind her. She placed headphones in her ears, like a normal teenaged girl, and glanced at her watch. She was still on schedule. Even so, she let out a muttered curse as she looked at it and broke out in a run to the nearest bus stop. Just for good measure. You never knew who was watching, after all.

Anko reached the bus stop seconds before it pulled in- a nice coincidence, given her act. She paid and sat in the far back. The bus lurched forward and she started bobbing her head to an unheard beat. She was the portrait of an ignorant adolescent. Nearly half an hour later, three stops before her destination, her superior hearing picked up the faintest of 'boom's. No one else on the bus heard it. Perfect.

She finally turned on her I-pod, picked a good song, and this time bobbed along with a real beat.

* * *

As a couple officers knocked on the door of the white manor, squad cars parked behind them, Iruka let his gaze wander over the grounds, taking in the impressive, over-decorated garden and expensive fountains. He'd never actually been here before, but he'd heard stories. Really, they wouldn't be here at all were it not for a stroke of luck. They'd gone to investigate an explosion at a local restaurant, and had happened upon a partially caved-in trap door. Deep underground, covered in rubble, nearly impossible to reach if not for the use of small robots, they had retrieved a piece of an ISBN code from a destroyed computer.

What was interesting was that same computer had been purchased, with twelve others like it, by one Minato Namikaze. A man who, despite all rumours to the contrary, was smart enough to pull a team of hackers together. The team was still searching the site, but had already recovered a piece of hardware. It had been completely wiped beforehand, suggesting the bombing was planned to some degree, but the only thing they had recovered was a frozen boar sprite.

A red and black boar.

The door opened with a creak beside him, and he turned his attention back to the task at hand. A maid greeted them with a slightly confused expression. Asuma explained the reason for the visit, warrant in hand, as another maid appeared behind the first.

"… Where is Namikaze?" Asuma finished, warrant in plain view, watching the maids as they glanced at each other. They turned back to the officers.

"I'm terribly sorry," One maid began. Iruka could already see where this was going, "but Namikaze-sama has had a recent decline in health and has headed to warmer climates to recover. He never said when he would be back."

Well. That sucked.

Figured their best lead would head straight into a dead end. With more hassle than he would have liked, they managed to convince the maids to let them in. Said maids promptly disappeared afterward, leaving the investigation group to explore on their own. Many of the group had been met with trap doors and hidden corridors, those with more luck had made it to the billionaire's office. Though, they'd had to narrowly dodge the table that descended from the back shelf right in front of them.

Kurenai, Gai and Kakashi were exploring the bookshelf and computer thoroughly, eyes focused on their respective tasks. On the other side, searching for any other secret chambers or trap doors that littered the rest of the mansion Asuma and Iruka also worked diligently. A sharp ring had Iruka's cell phone in hand, his other hand trailing over the spines of books, "Hello?"

His co-workers glanced at him, rolling their eyes and Iruka blushed faintly in embarrassment, "Iruka, where the Hell are you? You're late." Oh, today was that day was it?

"Umm…" He scratched his head sheepishly under the gaze of bemused eyes, "I'm working."

"Then skip work, remember we don't have all day." By now his co-workers had begun to ignore him, probably for the better. "Cover doesn't matter anymore, anyway. Why don't you take out some of the pursuit."

"I'll see what I can do. See you soon." There was a quick farewell on the other end before Iruka hung up. He sighed slightly. He actually liked these people, but it couldn't be helped. He slipped the phone into a pocket and simply…moved.

Asuma never saw it coming. The man's eyes widened, his mouth releasing the unlit cigarette in surprise. The smoker's body fell like a stone, already unconscious by the time he hit the floor. The soft thump caught the others' attention, and Iruka watched their eyes widen in horror as their minds realized what had happened. Two of them stared at the brunette while Kakashi was already drawing his gun, having been trained by ANBU for such events.

Iruka smiled.

* * *

The copters were prepped specifically for this journey; complete with extra fuel tanks, life rafts and maps. All laptops and duffle bags were stored away in the compartment built right in under the seats. He'd had these copters specially designed and built to accommodate six passengers, a co-pilot and pilot and all of their luggage. His previous purchases, including a yacht, another manor, and a jet-ski made this purchase seem like it was normal for him. It was almost as if he'd prepared for this event.

Now all he needed was his co-pilot to show up and they were set to go. The teenagers were mulling about, busying themselves for the long flight across the ocean. iPods were charged, video games checked, ear-plugs and blinders for those planning on sleeping were all stored in various pockets. Minato had his coffee mug filled to the brim. The flying lessons he had taken had certified him for copters and planes. Unfortunately, though, planes needed a landing strip to land and something like that would not fit on a yacht: even his brother's yacht.

Itachi and Hinata were discussing their flight pattern, with Hinata being the pilot. When he had asked her about learning to flying a helicopter, via e-mail, he hadn't expected her to finish at the top of her class. Although, he mused, during the weekend lessons she'd been under a different name, age and eye colour, with no pressure from her clan to succeed. So, naturally, she did.

Now, how Itachi had managed to fit the lessons into his schedule of double-crossing the police, hacking the government's biggest supporters, and remaining on top of his schoolwork all while in the police chief's house was a mystery. One that Minato very much wanted to learn. He would have to bug the Uchiha about that at a later date.

There were still three people missing from their merry band. Two of them were on their way, the other was unknown. Anko kept glancing at the door, waiting as patiently as she could while worrying like a mother hen. Sasori had better get here soon before she went stir-crazy. Minato looked over at her. "Anko, why don't you check to see if the police have Sasori?" They probably didn't, but it would keep her busy.

Deidara arrived in a black car with tinted windows, typical of Shibi, and waved to the other passenger before racing to stuff his bags into a helicopter. The car dove off without a word, and Minato made a point to bow his head in thanks to the Aburame Head. That made them even, for now.

"Minato." He glanced at the purple haired teen, almost surprised at how fast she had worked. Her face was frozen in a stricken expression and her skin was pale. "They have him."

He let out a curse. Of all the times to be caught... Cerulean eyes narrowed, and a dozen different scenarios played out in his head. They couldn't leave Sasori. He knew far too much and was too valuable to the group. Nor could he risk sending another out after him. This close to flight time, he didn't have the time to track down one of the people who owned him a favor or two. There had to be something he could do. "I can get him." Naruto butted in. "I grab Sasori, stick wherever he was staying under an illusion, get out of there and stay with Kyuubi until it's safe to join you guys."

"Absolutely not." Minato's tone was clipped, leaving no room to argue. He normally used that tone at board meetings. "We can't risk another going after him and being captured. Anko, where are they- where is she?" The teen was nowhere in sight. Her laptop was still open, though vacant, and the only way out of the hanger was the door. No sign of her anywhere. Minato cursed again. Why did teens have to make such a big deal about relationships?

Five minutes before take off Iruka showed up, breathing hard. Minato smirked at his friend, long familiarity trumping professional instincts. He'd known the man since Iruka's first…ah…run-in with the law. That was back when he still went by his birth name. It had been a long time. "You're running late."

The brunette gave a half-hearted glare, "Yeah, well next time you can be the one running across the city."

A glance, serious, "Are you okay to fly?" Standard procedure for any flight: was your co-pilot in condition to fly? If you passed out, could they take over? Do you smell liquor? He scoffed a bit at that last one. This was _Iruka_, after all.

"Give me a few minutes and some water, then yes." The brunette began his cooling down exercises, slowing his breathing and relaxing his muscles.

Minato whistled sharply, gathering the attention of everyone there. "Round up." The group settled around him- taking their time about it, but settling nonetheless. "Anko's gone after Sasori and we're taking off in less than five minutes. At this point we're leaving them both behind." There were signs of protesting, but a raised hand silenced them, "I'm not worried, you shouldn't be either." Anko was raised and trained as an assassin: she could take care of herself. Minato did, however, feel somewhat sorry for whoever got between her and Sasori. "In the mean time I want everyone to their designated choppers. Take off is in three minutes."

* * *

Homework had been a pain. Relative easy, but a pain nonetheless. It wasn't the first time she had fallen asleep while working on it, math had a tendency to do that to her. She stretched, cracking her neck while she was at it and rolling her shoulders, sleepy eyes staring at the half-finished sheet of equations. A pleasant nighttime breeze blew in, waking her further for the questions. Sakura might have been a few questions down when it occurred to her:

She never left her window open in winter.

Glancing at the window, she didn't even get a chance to stand and close it before gloved hands clasped around the back of her neck.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 9- The Strangest of Betrayals- ending program...

The Zodiac Viruses And Police List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger- Gaara Age-14 Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-Neji Age-15 Program- Byakugan, Kaiton

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse- Iruka Age- 25 Program-?

Sheep- Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog- Naruto Age-14 Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader- Minato Age- 36 Program-?

Police

Captain: Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- Itachi


	11. Drabbles

As promised for several chapters: Drabbles.

* * *

The Games

Tayuya chucked the controller at Kidoumaru's head. Her fellow assassin barely managed to duck and catch the electronic device before it was smashed to bits, which, he reflected, would have been quite bad for all of them. The controllers were rather expensive. Sakon and Ukon didn't even glance up from their own game. They were far too busy tag-teaming some 'noob' on Halo 3 who didn't understand that being snipers did not mean they were cheating, and more or less oblivious to the potential damage the Wii opposite them might sustain from their angry companion.

"You son of bitch!" she began, "I can't believe you fucking left a fucking mine beneath a fucking box!" Kidoumaru dropped the controller on the ground and sighed wearily, which would have been more convincing if he'd been able to keep the grin off his face.

"It was a fair fight and you know it. Now, when are you going to hand over that chocolate bar you bet?" Due a lack of Wii remotes, Tayuya resorted to throwing her schoolbag. Kidoumaru, not quite fast enough to avoid the homework, was flattened by it. He groaned slightly from beneath the fabric, "What do you have in there? Your entire locker?"

His question went unanswered as Tayuya continued to mutter under her breath about "the fucking cheater" and "that was totally cheating." On the couch dedicated to spectators, Jiroubou watched impassively for a moment before sighing and returning to his homework. Something everyone else _should _have been doing instead of playing games.

In the leather armchair beside the fireplace, Kimimaro appeared to be completely fascinated with a PSP, if the slightly glazed eyes and fingers moving faster then any of the others could see was anything to go by. It was the first time he had deigned to accompany them here, and, Kidoumaru thought, likely the first time he had ever played a video game. Poor, deprived fool.

Back in front of one of the large screen TV's Sakon cracked his neck, having been victorious in his game. "Call of Duty?" Ukon nodded, removing the headset to shake out his hair. With a boneless grace, the younger twin left his beanbag chair and headed to the walk-in-closet that had been transformed to hold not clothes, but video games.

Each wall had been covered from ceiling to floor with shelves, and each shelf was carefully labeled with regards to the consoles and release dates of the games stored there. The room held nearly every game available to the public, and some that were not. It was like walking into a room straight out of a sci-fi movie; antiseptic feel and all. Sakon paused a moment to view the wall of 360 games, thought for a moment, and selected Call of Duty 4.

The twins had barely begun playing when the door to the room opened. Naruto stared at the group currently occupying the Game Room of the mansion. A quick glance told him all he needed to know. "All right. That's the third time this week you guys have broken in here. Pack it up before Oro-teme decides to call. Minato hates when he comes looking for you guys."

"Come on, Naruto! Orochimaru-sama won't even get us Pong!" Kidoumaru's plea went right past Naruto as the blond crossed his arms, unmoving. Not that this scene wasn't amusing, but it was starting to get irritating having a bunch of assassins breaking in to the Game Room every week to play video games. Why should he have to pay because their boss was stingy about finance?

He scowled slightly and was about to respond, only to perk up at that sight of the Super Smash Brothers: Brawl case beside the Wii. A lightbulb went off somewhere. "Hey, you let me join Brawl and I'll let you stay. Course, you can't tell Minato I agreed to this."

Kidoumaru scowled: Naruto sucked at every game except Smash Brothers. Then he was practically a Gaming God of some sort. Kidoumaru had tried and fail many times to beat him at the game. However, the choice came down to staying and letting him play, or not and being kicked out. A monkey could make this decision. "You're third player. Now sit down and hit A."

The blond sat with a plop, and grabbed a controller. "Finally, some competition." Kidoumaru stared at the boy, who noticed and grinned. "Minato and Sasuke both suck at this game. Even at level 1 CPU as opponents. Now can I pwn your ass or not?"

* * *

Mornings at Deidara's

Itachi rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the sand built up in the corners of his eyes falling out as pebbles. His attempts to untangle his hair were futile without the use of a brush, and Itachi wasn't even going to _try_ finding one of those, so while he succeeded in forcing his hair into its traditional low ponytail there were a few strands still standing up against the flow. The sight of the usually tidy Uchiha with such a bad case of bed-head would have given most pause. The good news was that the project they had been assigned was finished and ready to be handed in on the new due date the teacher had set. Why was it the students always seemed to pay the price when the teacher conveniently forgot about a major part of their marks? Of course, they needed the mark for their report card...which was to be released to the parents on the following Wednesday.

He stumbled slightly, following the smell of food coming from Deidara's kitchen. They hadn't gotten to sleep until well past midnight and yet the blond was up and about before even the light sleeper that was Itachi. As he wandered into the tiny makeshift kitchen, which doubled as a dining room, Itachi stopped in the doorway. This was the first time he'd really seen the rest of Deidara's family, as the night before they'd been either asleep or away and he'd never been over before. It…was not what he expected to see.

The entire family was in the room, busying themselves with their morning activities, and a dust covered radio that could play cassettes sputtered out a morning radio station. The second oldest of the Iwa children, Saki if he recalled correctly, was keeping a watchful eye on both breakfast and the youngest, who was currently attempting to steal some cookies from the cookie jar. Deidara was pulling in some laundry from the window, shouting a greeting to someone outside and grinning like a loon, folding the shirts and pants as if it took no thought. When the youngest wasn't trying to steal treats, her attention was towards the homework that was due that day, pencil scribbling furiously in a vain attempt to finish. Amaya, the eldest, was on her cell phone, arguing heatedly in some foreign language. She paced through the kitchen, but was ignored by her siblings, through practice on the siblings' part.

Deidara finished folding the laundry and turned his attention towards the newspaper on the table, snatching it from Saki's outstretched hand. The sister glared at the only male in the family, who stuck his tongue out at her only to yelp as she made a grab for the offending limb, and refused to give up the paper. During the entire commotion Yama grabbed the paper, and was dog-piled by her siblings in their attempt to retrieve it. Amaya closed her cell, a look of murder on her face, speaking in the same language she had been using for her phone conversation, when Saki waved her fork violently in her sister's direction. Itachi figured the wording was anything but pleasant.

Amaya was about to respond when her cell went off again, a quick glance of it had her out of the room in a blur Itachi had difficulty following. Saki was sighing as she finished the toast for the family, handing a few slices to the blur that was Amaya as she raced out the door. The disappearance of their eldest sister was met with a few waves of their hands and a variety of farewells from the other siblings, too used to the busy lifestyle Amaya had. Deidara folded up the newspaper and handed it over to Saki in exchange for breakfast, while Yama downed her bowl of cereal in a way only a young teen could manage.

Saki opened the newspaper and began to read, a piece of toast in her mouth, skimming the articles with a seasoned eye Itachi hadn't known the twenty-year-old had. The only brother of the family had moved to drop the laundry in the other rooms, returning a few minutes later, breezing past Itachi's form off to the side of the makeshift living room. Yama finished her cereal in record time and her attention back to her homework. The entire scene he had just witnessed was so... surreal.

Itachi knew that Deidara came from a low-income family, barely getting by with three of the four working part-time or full-time, and it had gone downhill for a while last year when their mother died. He also knew that Amaya was working directly under a crime-lord, that Saki was a top of the line mercenary, and that Yama was trying to make it through school at the top of her class to make her siblings proud. Deidara was on the same boat as the rest, only he had made a sacrifice that led to him being part of their hacking group. So by all notions this family should be sad, depressed. Yet... they weren't.

The Uchiha briefly thought of his home, silent as a gravesite. The lights were never turned on, his parents were sometimes just figments of an overactive imagination and Sasuke... would turn out just like them. Itachi's eyes became unreadable as he thought of cold halls, sterile conversations and absent neighbors. A strange feeling crept up his stomach and wormed its way into his heart, increasing as he stared at the trio bickering over the last piece of toast.

He _hated _feeling jealous.

Itachi never returned to the Iwa Household.

* * *

Rivalry

..._The trees rustled slightly, almost masked by the sound of the pouring rain, and the Lucario turned its head towards the now-still bushes. The fighting Pokemon did not let down its guard, despite its wounds, for it was battling against a very cunning opponent. Glancing once more around the clearing, the fighter darted into the forest and raced after the fleeing Jolteon. It was irritating the way it always kept ahead of him a few paces. _

_Lucario was startled when the electric pokemon turned on a dime and launched a Thunder without pausing, and it took all of his speed and agility to dodge. Okay, in hindsight, maybe attacking an electric pokemon during a thunderstorm was a bad idea. The tree that had acted as his shield was a heap of ash before him and he knew he had to wrap this up. Nodding to himself, __the Lucario forced__. One attack. That was all that was needed to bring that pesky Jolteon down._

_Pulling the energy of the area towards the palm of his paws, The Lucario closed his eyes, trusting the ability to read auras that was bred into his bones. Seconds slowed as the energy condensed and compacted into a small sphere held in place. He felt the Jolteon turn tail and run, clearly aware of what he was planning. Not that it would help._

_With a push of power the Hyperbeam tore through the foliage, squarely hitting the Jolteon in the back..._

* * *

Neji watched with satisfaction as the victory melody played into his headphones, the rest of his class oblivious to what he was doing. He directed his Lucario to the Pokemon Center with a click of the mouse, waiting for the Nurse Joy unit to tend to his pokemon's injuries. Turning the Pokemon Series into an online RPG was an absolute genius move by Nintendo. His rival had joined the same time he had, and the last battle was even more proof that his rival's Jolteon had no chance when faced with Lucario.

A chatbox popped up on Neji's screen. With a smirk, the Hyuuga read his opponent's message. _"...Doesn't count."_ His rival apparently did not take his defeat very well. He did not reply immediately, instead minimizing the window to the project he had finished last class, and pretended to be deep in thought as the teacher walked by his computer. The teacher could not fault him if his work was done.

The moment those hawk-eyes fixed on a pair of students who weren't smart enough to keep their projects open and maximized behind their games, Neji typed his reply_. "You're just a sore loser. I won fair and square_. _Now_ _add it to the score._" There was a few seconds where the prodigy wasn't sure Shadowoftheleaf4 was going to add it to the tally bar at the bottom of the chatbox. _"Shadow, add it. Now." _

The reply was practically instantaneous. _"Keep your shorts on, Fatalist_." Neji waited for the tally to increase in his favour, and after a moment it did_. "Happy?"_

The Hyuuga smirked again, and his fingers dashed across the keyboard_. "Very much so. I look forward to our next battle_." Following proper courtesy, Neji waited for Shadow to reply. After a minute or so, his rival did.

_"So do I. I have to show your Lucario where it belongs, after all." _There was another pause in the messaging, _"I gtg. I think someone's noticed I'm not working." _Neji bit back his snickering, lest his teacher discover he, himself, wasn't working.

_"Alright. Until next time, then." _Blank orbs watched the screen as Shadowoftheleaf4 signed out. Oh yes, there was nothing like a pokemon battle with a worthy opponent to pass a dull class.

* * *

Minato barely managed to type his final reply to Fatalist:FatePwnsYou before his secretary noticed that her boss should not grinning after being given a pile of paperwork dealing with Iwa Inc. He barely managed to close the window before her head was hovering over his shoulder, viewing the graph he had been working on previous to his fight with Fatalist. "Are you done?" His question seemed sarcastic.

Hawk eyes stared at the screen, as if not quite believing, before her fingers gently pushed her glasses up. "There is hope for you yet, Namikaze-sama." Minato glanced at her as she quietly made her way back to her desk, only to pause at the open door. "For a moment I thought you were playing that children's game while you still had work to complete. I suppose it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks."

The blond glanced up at the odd tone, only to freeze at the arctic gaze directed at him. "I also suppose that, with the past hour you've spent working on the new product, you'll be able to have the paperwork completed and in to me by lunch." Minato barely managed to keep his grin, which his secretary returned. The moment she had her back turned, the CEO allowed the cloud of despair to appear over him. Why did she have to be such a sadist?

* * *

Poker

The smoke from the cigarette wafted lazily around the table, though none of the participants noticed. They were too busy with their game to see anything but the cards and their friends-turned-opponents. As the last hand was thrown down and the victor revealed, Ibiki stood, "I'm heading to the kitchen. Does anyone want anything before I sit back down?"

Calls for more beers answered him, and the teacher sighed before turning for the fridge. Genma was going to eat him out of not only his pocket change but his drinks as well. Sighing lightly, Ibiki fished around the fridge for a pair of bottles and some snacks, turned back to the room and stopped.

Anko was watching the game from her position by the door. He raised a brow. This was her first appearance today and he was vaguely surprised that she would appear when there were so many people in the house. There was no expression on her face, as usual. Her purple eyes were perpetually dull and she still didn't speak past "thank you," "no," and "yes." Mentally, he bit back a sigh. What was he thinking, picking up a random street urchin like her? Agreed she had better hygiene than most adults he knew, but that was beside the point.

Still, there was hope for her. He knew it by the sharp glint in her eyes that appeared when he gave her that rubrics' cube and she returned a few minutes later with the cube completed. The doctor had said that a good home would do wonders for her, and though he knew nothing about raising a kid he was doing his best. "Anko." She turned at her name, a good sign, and stared blankly at him.

He gestured with his head towards the group, "... Did you figure it out?" Something flickered in her eye, and the eight year old nodded. "Come on then." He led the way to the table, and when Kotesu made a move to protest Anko's presence he was silenced with a quick glare from her guardian. The girl was finally interested in something and he refused to pass it up.

She had to sit on a barstool to reach the table, and others were surprised when Ibiki handed her twenty. They were even more surprised when she threw in the exact amount for the pot. Sitting across from her, Ibiki watched as the glint returned to her eyes. Izumo started to shuffle, staring at her curiously. "Do you even know how to play?"

Purple eyes flickered to him, and she spoke her first sentence since coming to Ibiki's place. "Deal the cards and we'll find out."

* * *

"So, who's up for another hand?" Groans met the question, and Ibiki wondered just what kind of monster he had created. Anko was grinning at all of them, her winnings towering over her while it was like a desert for the others around her. Genma, who wasn't sure what to think about being beat by an eight-year-old who had never played before, stared at the empty space before him. He vaguely recalled that at one point in time he was going to walk out of here with nearly all of his friends' pocket change. What had happened? Tears pooled in his eyes in mock sadness.

"Sorry, princess. I don't have any more money to spare." Asuma lit up a new cigarette. He'd fallen on the floor in shock when Anko laid out a flush a few hands into the game. The others were still in various states of shock, even now. Ibiki was pretty sure Izumo had passed out....

A quick glance at the clock told Ibiki it was way past the winner's bedtime. "Anko, get to bed. You have school tomorrow." She looked like she was going to be defiant, but scowled inside. Her eyes lit up all of a sudden and her frown changed to a smirk.

"Only if I get to join you the next time you play poker." Groans echoed each other when Ibiki smirked and agreed. Then victor collected her winnings, whistling slightly, waved bye and trooped up the stairs to the room she was staying in.

"Why, Ibiki, why?" Kotesu cried, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. "Why did you say she could join us next time? I don't have that kind of money! You just let an eight year old walk away with more money than I make in two days! What on earth would a kid use it for?" He sniffed slightly, head on the table.

"Because," the Physics teacher started collecting the discarded bottles and other junk left behind, "it makes her happy." He paused, as if collecting his thoughts, and turned to the door. "Didn't I say to go to bed, Anko?" The shadow that descended from bottom of the stairs disappeared after a wince, still smiling.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed.


	12. Of Family and Honour

Starting… Opening… Whatever.

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 10- Of Family and Honour- launching program…

If there was one thing Sasuke hated more than how the Hacker case was going nowhere fast, it was how people kept ending up in the hospital. And all this did was point to a disturbing theory festering in his mind. Quietly closing the behind him, Sasuke sighed heavily.

Sakura had been found on the floor of her room, her neck nearly crushed. She should have been dead, according to the hospital. But she wasn't. She was incredibly, ridiculously lucky and she wasn't dead. Even so, Sasuke had to force down a shudder every time he thought about her, a girl his age, in his class, his partner, lying as if carved from stone. Right now, a series of machines kept her alive. A sickly wad of guilt lumped deep in his chest. Surely there was something he could have done. But he had never suspected that Sakura would be in danger. No one had.

They had told her parents it was a freak accident; that Sakura had fallen forwards into the hardwood backing of her chair. The lie was bought with a thinning of lips but the parents didn't question the investigation. The Harunos would not interfere.

That was good, because nobody had any idea what happened in Sakura's room last night. All entrances to the second-story room had been locked. The Harunos had not heard anything out of the ordinary. Not even a crash. Short of catching whoever did this, it was unlikely they would ever find out.

Sasuke left her room behind, weaving between an endless line of doctors, nurses, janitors and relatives, heading nowhere in particular. Alone with his thoughts, there was nothing to distract Sasuke from the stench of sterilizing chemicals and old coffee. Sasuke had always had trouble thinking of hospitals as a place where people came to be healed.

He'd never particularly liked hospitals, the few times he'd visited before. One of his earliest memories was being carried into a waiting room for a flu shot, and then screaming almost as soon as he entered the doctor's room. Mikoto had been shocked – he'd heard her talking to Fugaku afterwards, Sasuke had never behaved like that before. He himself couldn't explain that sudden, childish fear. But he remembered that, at that moment, everything about this building had terrified him. The incident was one of the many reasons why Sasuke was behind in his flu shots.

But hospital life continued anyway, as if it truly didn't care what a paranoid teenage thought. As he stepped off the elevator into the bustling lobby floor Sasuke almost didn't see his father heading in his direction. He stood to the side hurriedly and bowed a greeting.

Fugaku acknowledged him with a nod, but didn't walk past. Instead, he motioned that Sasuke should follow him back out of the building and lead the way through a newly formed path in the crowd. Even those who didn't recognize Fugaku's position unconsciously parted to make way for him. Sasuke followed him silently to the car, waiting for the man to say whatever was on his mind.

They were halfway home when he finally spoke. "I'm pulling you off the case."

He said it the same way he'd comment on the weather and it took Sasuke a minute to realize what he meant. He stared at his father in shock – did he really think Sasuke was doing such a bad job? Did he even have a reason? Sasuke swallowed those questions before he could blurt them out. Outbursts wouldn't get him anywhere with Fugaku. Calm, cool and collected would- like Itachi was when he was particularly enraged. "…Why?" Sasuke held off mentioning his past success- barely.

Fugaku glanced at him, and Sasuke couldn't begin to guess what he was looking for, and frowned more deeply than usual as they pulled into the driveway. He turned the engine off but made no movement to leave. "This case has become too personal for you to make the appropriate decisions. Therefore you are removed from duty until further notice."

It was the textbook answer, and it didn't tell him much. But it would suffice if the decision was questioned by anybody. Sasuke bit his cheek and a voice, sounding much like Minato, resounded in his head, '_When in doubt, young padawan, use big words.' _Sasuke took a moment to form the proper sentence. "Tou-sama, may I inquire as to how the investigation has become too personal?"

Fugaku was staring at him, even if it was only from the corner of his eye. "Itachi," The scowl deepened, "has not returned home for three days. I'm sure you've noticed. He has been declared missing along with several others, many of whom are on your list of suspects." A pause, "There is evidence that he is one of the hackers."

* * *

Itachi's bedroom was always dimly lit and impeccably clean, much like Itachi himself. It smelled of recently dried paint and room freshener, instead of the musky smell normally associated with a teenager's room. Paintings had been set gingerly aside, out of harm's way, to be completed during the next bout of insomnia. Sitting stiffly on the stool Itachi used when painting, Sasuke could only stare at them. His eyes were unfocused, and he saw the familiar details of the room more with his mind's eye than with his real eyes.

A made bed, a wall of small, shiny objects collected over time, a desk covered with art supplies. His father had already searched the room. There was nothing out of place. Nothing missing. Everything was as it should be- only that Itachi wasn't there. It wasn't unusual. Itachi stayed over at friends' houses all the time. Sometimes he was gone for up to a week, for whatever reason. He didn't always give warning, either, though Sasuke had seen him talk quietly with their mother after a couple of his longer absences. Their father had never seemed to care before. This time, though, he didn't seem to think he was coming back.

Sasuke knew better.

There was no way Itachi would leave…all this. His paintings. His supplies. He loved them too much. Sasuke stood up numbly and wandered over to his brother's desk. Everything was organized, sorted by function and usefulness and clearly labeled. Itachi always noticed when something had been disturbed; Sasuke had learned that the hard way years ago.

He noticed it suddenly; a flash of reflected light catching his eye. Mixed in with a small collection of ballpoint pens was one that stood out. It was made out of a white metal and decorated with tiny carvings. Sasuke knew that pen. Itachi never let it out of his sight. Never let anyone else touch it. He wouldn't have left it behind.

That was definitely out of place.

Swallowing hard, Sasuke stared at the pen. It wasn't like Itachi, no matter how he had acted in the past few months, to leave his most prized possession unattended. It wasn't like him to conspire against his own father. To blow up a conference building. Really, what did their father know? He hadn't even realized that this pen shouldn't be here. Surely this was all a misunderstanding. Itachi would come back in a day or two, like he usually did, and explain where he'd been.

Wouldn't he? An image came to him then, one of Itachi elegantly plucking a piece of cereal from his brow and a half-forgotten conversation ending on a serious note.

_"Be careful out there, Sasuke. If you're not, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble. Hackers can be dangerous."_

A simple warning, given by someone who had no doubt heard stories from his father's coworkers. Honest concern for his younger brother, heading into a new job. Only now it sounded more ominous. What did Itachi know about the Zodiac Viruses? Nothing, back then, if he was like the rest of the police force. And he wasn't, because he hadn't even been part of the force then. Maybe he'd known something they didn't. Maybe because he was one of them. And hadn't he been absent during almost all major hacks?

How well did he really know his brother? Sasuke shook his head, trying to banish the thought, only for it to come back stronger than before. Itachi's absences, his disappearance, how he strangely he acted when Sasuke had approached him with the meeting of Fugaku and the Hyuuga… There was no excuse, no reason Sasuke could think of to explain them all.

Except one.

Perhaps Fugaku had been right. Sasuke fought to keep his breathing even. Itachi being a hacker would explain just about everything. How hard would it be for a police officer, even if he wasn't officially part of the force, to give the network details to others? Playing two sides would be easy for Itachi; quiet, genius Itachi. It would have been even easier to hide from their parents. After all, neither Fugaku nor Mikoto had heard a sniff of Sasuke's friendship with Minato. If Sasuke could pull off hiding information in his room, Itachi could do the same.

Taking a shuddering breath, Sasuke tried to accept and assess the possibilities as a good police officer should. But everything was pointing to the fact Itachi was more than he had ever shown anyone in their family.

And now he was gone.

Quietly bowing his head into his arms, Sasuke could only accept the fact he no longer knew if Itachi would return and try to quell the rage burning inside him. His gaze returned to the pen, slightly mesmerized by how the light danced off of the metal. Hesitantly, because the vision of Itachi materializing behind him with a death glare the moment his finger entered the pen's personal bubble popped up in his mind, Sasuke reached for the pen.

In his hand, it didn't seem all that special. Sure, it was heavier than most and the metal was obviously high quality but nothing really explained Itachi's fascination with it. But Itachi loved that pen and if Sasuke kept it with him it would likely bring his brother to him eventually.

He hoped.

* * *

It was only when his door was locked that Sasuke finally hit something. With a sharp crash his desk lamp hit the wall, sent there from a particularly strong backhand. Glass from the light bulb flew everywhere, and a shard sliced his cheek.

Standing in the near dark of his room, Sasuke began to think. Hackers. Bombing. The note. Police. Hyuuga. Fugaku. Minato. He glanced at the pen he'd stolen from his brother's room.

Itachi.

Somehow they all tied together. Somehow everything connected, like a jigsaw puzzle. He had all the pieces… or did he? Sasuke sat down heavily on his desk chair, his gaze still on the pen. Was there a variable he hadn't counted? Like why hackers would leap to violence. They would have to have been provoked somehow. Interference from the police was unlikely- they had already shown that the police weren't a real threat with the hacks on the main frame. So what could possibly provoke them enough to act outside of cyberspace? To attack a conference of politicians?

In the back of his mind something clicked- the note and the conference- as two pieces slid into place. The note said they refused to have other like them, so they attacked the politicians. With the politicians gone, the attacks stopped. Why was everything coming back to the note? To the conference. In fact, what had the conference been about?

Perhaps that was the missing piece.

He needed the information Minato had given him. Sasuke stood, and quickly dug it out of its hiding place. Something was in here. It had to be. But every way he looked at it, every time he looked at it, the file was the same as before. If there was some clue to everything in there, Sasuke couldn't see it. And he didn't really have any other options.

He threw the file on the floor, watching the papers scatter, and didn't really feel any better. He'd have to pick them up later and rearrange them; even if it was useless, it was the only information he had right now. He was off the case, and Minato was gone, and he'd taken Naruto with him. There was Jiraiya, but Sasuke didn't even know if he was still in the city.

Absently, he picked up the pen again. Rolled it in his fingers and closed his eyes, told himself to _think_. Itachi would have been able to piece this together. All he needed to know was what was being discussed at that conference. The news said it was a meeting on inflation, but that didn't fit with the hacker's note- if the note could be trusted. A cover-up? But what for, and how had the hackers' figured out what the true purpose was? It wasn't exactly easy to spy on conspiracies.

He sighed and bent to pick up a piece of paper by the chair leg. He shouldn't leave these out in plain sight. He had barely finished returning the file to its hiding place when his phone went off. "Hello?"

_"Sasuke?" _The Uchiha blinked at the familiar voice. It had been a while since he'd heard from Kakashi.

"Speaking. What can I do for you, sensei?"

_"You can meet me at the park in 30 minutes."_

"…All right." Before Sasuke could question further there was a dial tone. Though the conversation was strange, he decided not to dwell on it. He grabbed his coat and left the house without looking back.

* * *

The air nipped at him, somehow cooler than it was on his visit to the hospital. But the park wasn't far away, two blocks maybe, and Kakashi was already waiting.

He had to do a double-take to confirm the silver-haired man sitting on the bench was Kakashi. Band-aids covered his fingers, silver hair was partially covered by wrappings, he had an arm in a sling and the only eye in view was purple. If it wasn't for the orange book Sasuke would have been prepared to say Kakashi was a no show. "What happened to you?"

The gym teacher glanced up, smiling sheepishly, "A run-in with an old friend." Sasuke raised a brow. "What about you? That's a nasty cut."

It took Sasuke a moment to remember the broken lamp- which he had yet to clean up- and the subsequent flying glass. He kept his face stony. "My face met glass."

Kakashi stared at him a moment, then flipped a page and started reading again, "Right. Anyway, how have you been? I heard Fugaku-taicho took you off the case."

Sasuke scowled, not answering until after he sat down. His gaze traveled to the toddlers playing in the sandbox and then to the children bounding around on the play structure, "How do you know about that, already?"

"A bird told me. I saved it from a black cat on my detour route from my apartment. It was very grateful." A thin brow raised at that, and Kakashi turned a page. "Actually, I guessed."

"You guessed?" That was less believable than the first reason. The Uchiha glanced at his teacher, "Based on what?"

"Years of experience." A sideways glance showed a less than amused Sasuke. "I was kicked off, too. So were the others."

Sasuke returned his gaze to the playground, the group of toddlers now being picked up by their mothers and fathers, "Tou-san said I was too emotionally involved."

"Funnily enough I got the exact same reason. So did everyone else." Kakashi flipped another page, far too quickly for him to possibly be _reading_ the pages, "And rumours in the lunch room suggest no one is going to be replacing us."

That got a blink. "They're ending our case."

"Apparently. Which is odd considering the recent breakthrough in it. We are fairly sure we know who was financing the Hackers."

That was news to Sasuke. When had that happened and why hadn't he been informed? His father would have had ample time to tell him. After all, he'd only been taken off the case this morning. "Oh?"

"Yeah. We discovered a serial number from a computer from the restaurant that had exploded. It traced back to one Namikaze Minato. We had a raid on his house and everything. Didn't turn up anything, though."

"Minato?"

It was only when Kakashi glanced up, bruised eye watching Sasuke critically, that Sasuke realized his mistake. He winced inwardly, but kept calm, waiting to see how Kakashi would pursue the matter. "You know Namikaze, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged, trying for casual. "Peripherally. I met him once when I was out with a friend. He stopped to chat and demanded I refer to him as 'Minato.' It was very odd."

"Oh?" Kakashi carefully closed his novel, standing up as he pocketed it, "I would advise against meeting him again. There was evidence he was either the leader or a key component of the Tetsubun Prison Break a few years ago. That escapade released Zabuza Momochi, among others, back to the streets."

"If there was evidence, why wasn't Min-…Namikaze convicted or detained?" Sasuke remembered that day well; almost everyone in the area did. His mother had refused to let him or his brother walk to school and _made _Fugaku drive them to and from. Not with so many criminals running about with free reign over the street for weeks. It had been a disaster.

"You've never been placed in the position where you've had to arrest some as high-profile as Namikaze." Kakashi sighed, "Someone with that many connections, power and money can't be detained by three coincidences, a money trail and a few phone records. Let alone convicted. You need to have hard evidence, along with motive and means, before state or a judge would even act. That's why the rich don't seem to care about laws."

Sasuke nodded, "'There are no laws for the rich and famous.'" He had heard that from Fugaku himself, usually after a case that had fallen through because of connections the suspect had.

Kakashi snorted his agreement, "Couldn't have said it better myself. As I said, avoid meeting him again." The officer waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Sasuke to wander home on his own.

* * *

Closing the door to his room, Sasuke leaned against it. He had almost forgotten about that part in Minato's history. Minato had never been convicted, and Sasuke had taken that as innocence, but Kakashi seemed to believe it was only his money that prevented that. The Uchiha didn't know the details, told himself he couldn't make a decision on the matter, but he mostly certainly could see Minato getting off from a charge with some smooth talking.

Oh yes, Sasuke could definitely see the return of 'business' Minato in a Police interrogation room. He almost pitied whomever was in charge of the interrogation; the blond didn't seemed like someone who spooked easily and Sasuke doubted the usual techniques would gain anything more than a lawyer from Minato. If what Kakashi said was true they would need a warrant to go any further, and it was unlikely any judge would grant such a request against such a highly respected member of the community.

Sasuke sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with what he had. And he still couldn't believe that no one had told him, the lead investigator in the hacker case, about the breakthrough. It didn't make sense. He had been part of the team up until this morning, which meant he _should_ have been informed of the raid on Minato's home. And then there was the whole business of the case being closed just as a substantial breakthrough was made. He had never heard of anything like that happening before.

Nothing was making any sense.

"You aren't much, are you?" The growl came from directly in front of Sasuke, and the startled Uchiha barely had time to glance up. But there was nothing there.

Instantly wary - that voice hadn't come from his head - Sasuke held back a swallow. How had someone gotten past the security on the house? Sasuke put his back to the wall, scanning the room nervously. He heard a quiet chuckle, then right beside his ear: "Moderately smart."

Sasuke turned fast enough to have whiplash, and stared at the empty space beside him. "Terrible reflexes. It's a miracle you haven't been killed off yet."

This time, when Sasuke's gaze settled on where the voice should have been, he was rewarded with the sight of a man staring straight through him. The man was familiar, his long blood-red hair tied back as the base of his neck and his leather jacket was unbounded to reveal a tee-shirt. But it was the those eyes, blood-red and practically glowing, that placed where Sasuke had seen him before.

It was at Minato's, in the pouring rain- that strange visitor that Minato didn't like to talk about. The man lowered himself into Sasuke's desk chair and helped himself to the file folders Minato had lent Sasuke, like he'd known exactly where they were hidden all along. And all the time the man kept his gaze locked on Sasuke's own.

Sasuke fought to keep his breathing even, fighting the urge to bolt even when he turned his attention to the files, absently flipping through them. A glance at the door showed that it was locked, and how that had happened he could only guess. Sasuke held no illusions about his chances of getting out before the man killed him for trying. But he could have easily stolen the files and have disappeared long before Sasuke returned. "What do you want?"

The man peered over the papers briefly before dismissing him. He only answered after he closed the folder, apparently content with whatever he had gleamed from it, "There are many, many things I want. The question is, is there anything I want that you can give."

He grinned then, showing a fang that looked mighty real. Sasuke stiffened for a moment, before relaxing slightly. You couldn't react as fast as possible if your muscles are bunched into a single position, his brother had said. "Well, do I have anything you want or do you break into people's houses for fun?"

For a moment, Sasuke feared he'd gone too far. He stiffened but continued to look the man in the eyes, which had narrowed into slits. The moment passed, and the redhead chuckled under his breath, "I'm not sure whether to commend you on your balls, or put you in your place." He tossed the files back to Sasuke, who had to scramble to catch them. "Sit down."

Careful to keep his back away from the man, Sasuke did as he was told while always keeping both eyes on the redhead. "I have a deal that you should be interested in. An 'I'll help you and you'll help me' sort of deal." He paused, brow mockingly raised, "Unless this concept is beyond you, of course."

Taking a breath, musing the proposition over, Sasuke tried to call up the calm, eerie confidence he'd had with Minato. It was harder to do with this man, but within a few moments Sasuke was thinking clearly and relaxed. "Be more specific. What exactly do you want?"

The man raised a brow at that, and seemed to narrow his eyes thoughtfully. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and then he was all business. "I want Uzumaki Naruto back. You vow to help me in his retrieval and I'll help get you the information you so desperately need."

Sasuke stared for a moment. "Why are you after Naruto?"

The man scoffed, and a silent 'moron' went unspoken.

The Uchiha took the hint, "Why do you want Naruto… back?" The question was more hesitant in nature than Sasuke would have liked, though his voice never wavered from its monotone.

"Better." The redhead took a moment, but Sasuke couldn't read his expression. "I once made a promise that I would protect Uzumaki. Getting him back is how I intend to fulfill that promise."

"So you won't hurt Naruto." The returning glare answered the question. "Why isn't Naruto safe with Minato?" An honest question. Naruto had never seemed like he was being mistreated or that Minato was anything but watchful of the boy.

A cold smile was part of the answer, "Why do you seem to think he's safe?" Sasuke paused, just like was he was expected to, and the man continued. "I'm going to tell you a story. Believe what you want of it. A long time ago a woman makes a mistake. Nine months after that she has a son, only the father disowns him to save his reputation. A few years afterwards the mother is killed in a car crash and the child is taken away to a place where something happens to him. Eventually the boy and some of his peers escape in a fire and now the father wants the boy because the boy is living proof of a conspiracy rivaling most fiction novels. One that is nearly complete."

Sasuke stared at the man, "Alright, suppose I believe you, " Not that Sasuke did, "Naruto would be the boy, and that in turn makes Minato his father. But what's the conspiracy?"

"The creation of beings so unnatural that even the average demon is wary of them." The redhead's expression didn't waver, even as he added that last part. It was crazy – this man was crazy – but somehow it seemed credible tonight.

"Demons? Unnatural beings? That doesn't add much creditably to your story."

The man leaned back into the chair, "Human, I told you could believe it or not. I'm only here to get Uzumaki now that the idiot made a mistake." Just for a moment, the redhead seemed inhuman-something beyond Sasuke's vocabulary. Whatever it was, it made Sasuke think of flames. "Do you accept the deal?"

Sasuke mused it over. He didn't trust the redhead, but at the same time he couldn't trust Fugaku or Minato, who had vanished under suspicious conditions. And Itachi… Itachi had hidden more than Sasuke had ever realized before. "How do I know I can trust you?'

The smile was more of a smirk, "You can't."

The entire story could be a lie, but Naruto had told him his mother died in a car crash. And, now that he thought about it, Sasuke had never heard Minato call Naruto his son- despite the physical characteristics the blonds shared. Too many coincidences to be ignored completely and even Sasuke had to acknowledge he was in a corner, "I'll accept on the condition you don't harm Naruto, Minato or myself when I help you get Naruto back."

"Agreed." Without a sound the man stood, "What do you need?"

Holding back a blink, Sasuke stood as well. If he couldn't trust the man, he would have to treat him as an asset. "Can you find out what the meeting was actually discussing before it was blown up and any information you say is part of this conspiracy?"

"Child's play." The man scoffed, "I'll even figure out who's behind it before nightfall in three days' time."

"Good. I'll see you then."

The redhead smirked at the comment and headed towards the window. He turned after opening it, "Nice eyes." And was gone before Sasuke could question the strange comment.

Once the man was gone, and the adrenaline had faded away, Sasuke had enough sense to look in the mirror. His regular onyx eyes stared back at him, nothing was unusual about them. A little red around the rims, but he hadn't been sleeping well since he joined the investigation. Shrugging off the strange comment, Sasuke set about finding a new hiding spot for the files.

* * *

"You know, Oba-chan" Naruto begin, taking a sip of his hot chocolate and huddling in his wool sweater, "Maybe you should ask Oji-san to let Minato in before he freezes."

Over where she was preparing more hot chocolate, 'Auntie' replied, "I will, Naruto-kun. Just as soon as he apologizes for releasing Pein's fifth birthday pictures to the press."

The blond turned his gaze back to the snow-crested window, where one Namikaze Minato glared through while huddling in his blue parka. Snow falling leisurely behind the CEO, who had begun to shake his fist at Naruto (who, in turn deliberately misinterpreted the action and waved back which led to swearing if Naruto's lip-reading was accurate), was moderately picturesque.

"Konan-san," Itachi seemed to have adapted to the cold much better than Kisame, who was shivering underneath the blankets he had stolen from the couch, "As much as I understand Pein-san's grudge, we need Minato alive and well."

The blue-haired woman sighed quietly, and went in search of her husband. Returning swiftly, she opened the front door of the manor/cabin. "You are allowed in under the condition you do not speak to Pein unless it's an apology."

Little more than a shivering mess, Minato stumbled inside. Glaring as hot as he probably wished he was. "Y-you guys are all jerks."

Zodiac Viruses- chapter 10- Of Family and Honour - ending program...

The Zodiac Viruses And Police List

Hackers

Rat- Itachi- Age-16-Program- Sharingan

Ox- Kisame- Age- 18 Program- Shedder

Tiger- Gaara Age-14 Program-?

Rabbit-Deidara Age-18 Program- C1

Dragon-Neji Age-15 Program- Byakugan, Kaiton

Snake- Anko Age- 17 Program- Snakes + Ladders

Horse- Iruka Age- 25 Program-?

Sheep- Hinata Age-14 Program- Byakugan

Monkey-Shikamaru Age-14 Program-Shadow Valentine 1

Rooster-Chouji Age-14 Program- Overload

Dog- Naruto Age-14 Program-?

Boar-Ino Age-14 Program- Shadow Valentine 2

Cat- Sasori Age- 18 Program- Puppet

Leader- Minato Age- 36 Program-?

Police

Captain: (Removed from Case) Sasuke- age- 14 Partner- Sakura

(Removed from Case) Sakura- age 14, Partner- Sasuke

(Removed from Case) Tenten- age 15, Partner- Asuma

(Removed from Case) Asuma- age- 28, Partner- Tenten

(Removed from Case) Lee- age-15, Partner- Gai

(Removed from Case) Gai- age- 28, Partner- Lee

(Removed from Case) Kakashi- age- 28, Partner- doesn't have one.

Tsunade- age- 50, Partner- NA

* * *

AN: ... I have no comment on this fic, only that my love of the series is waning like the setting sun.


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